JPMorgan Chase buys troubled First Republic Bank after U.S. government takeover
RegulatorstookoverFirstRepublicBankandsold a substantial chunk of its assets to JPMorgan Chase, marking the third major bank failure in the U.S. in less thantwomonths.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) briefly took control of First Republic over the weekend, before overseeing the sale in what it describesasa"highlycompetitivebidding process."
JPMorgan said in a press release it would take over First Republic's deposits and a "substantial amount oftheirassets andcertainliabilities."
"Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement. "This acquisition modestly benefits our company overall, it is accretive to shareholders, it helps further advance our wealth strategy, and it is complementary to our existing franchise."
First Republic's 84 branches opened as JPMorgan Chase Bank branches on Monday, and depositors havefullaccesstotheir money.
Souce: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/01/1172868295/first-republic-bank-failure-fdicjpmorgan-chase
Job openings tumble to lowest point in nearly two years
The number of open jobs inthe UnitedStates has dropped to the lowest level since May 2021, a reflection of a labor market that is slowly settling back into balance after the Federal Reserve’s yearlongcampaigntocoolofftheeconomy.
Job openings totaled 9.59 million in March, according to monthly data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down from an upwardly revised 9.974 million reported in February and represents the third consecutive monththatavailablejobshavefallen.
Economists were expecting 9.775 million openings, according to consensus estimates on Refinitiv.
As of March, the ratio of open jobs to the number of unemployed Americans fell to 1.65, BLS data shows.
“Demandforlaboriscooling, andthe dynamics of the labor market are normalizing,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “After two yearsofincrediblyrapidchurnandhighlyelevated demand, things are now all going back to normal levelsandrates.”
Fed increases rates a quarter point and signals a potential end to hikes
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its 10th interest rate increase in just a little over a year and dropped a tentative hint that the current tighteningcycleisatanend.
Thecentralbank’sFederalOpenMarketCommittee raised its benchmark borrowing rate by 0.25 percentage point. The rate sets what banks charge each other for overnight lending but feeds through to many consumer debt products such as mortgages,autoloansandcreditcards.
The increase takes the fed funds rate to a target rangeof5%-5.25%, the highestsinceAugust 2007.
Markets, though, are more focused on whether the Fed will pause here, particularly with lingering concerns over economic growth and a banking crisis that has rattled nerves on Wall Street. Stocks rose slightly and Treasury yields were mostly lower immediately following the Fed news, but stocks struggledtoholdontothegains.
However, the labor market has remained strong since the increases started in March 2022. At the same time, inflation is still well above the 2% target thatpolicymakersconsideroptimum.
Souce:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/03/fed-rate-decision-may-2023-.html
Nearly half of Americans concerned about safety of their money in banks
Nearly half of Americans are losing their faith in banksaftertheU.S.bankingsystem faced aseries of blows that was an eerie reminder of the 2008 financialcrisis.
According to a recent Gallup poll, 48% of Americansareconcernedaboutthesafetyoftheir funds in banks or other financial institutions. Of them, about 19% reported feeling "very" concerned, and 29% said they were "moderately" worried, accordingtothedata.
Comparatively, about 30% were "not too worried," and20%weren'tstressedatall.
The survey was conducted a month after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank came crashing downinMarch,markingsomeofthebiggestbank failuresinU.S.history. However,thepollwastaken before regulators seized troubled First Republic Bank early Monday, which marked the secondlargestbankfailureinU.S. history.
Those most concerned about the safety of their money following the recent failures are lowerincomeadults,thosewithoutacollege degree.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/half-americans-concerned-safety-money-banks
US employers added 253,000 jobs in April showing jobs market remains robust
USemployersadded253,000jobsinApril,asignthatresilientjobsmarketremainsrobustevenafterayear ofFederalReserveinterestraterises.
Labormarketgrowthhasbeenslowingoverthelastfewmonths,from472,000jobsinJanuarytoarevised 165,000inMarch.Aprilbrokethatdownwardtrendingrowth,theBureauofLaborStatistics(BLS)reported onFriday.
Theunemploymentfellslightlyincreasedto3.4%,0.1%decreasecomparedto March.
Economists had expected the US to add 180,000 jobs over the month. Recent data had pointed to signs that jobs growth has been slowing. The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as Jolt, for March was released by the BLS earlier this week and showed job openings were at their lowest level sinceApril2021,fallingforathirdmonthstraight.
Layoffsincreasedto1.8m,248,000morecomparedtolastmonthandthehighestnumbersinceDecember 2020. The construction industry saw the highest number of layoffs as the housing market has cooled with theriseofinterestrates.
Souce:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/05/us-economy-april-jobs-growth-interest-rates