Correspondent Blog

The August Employment Report is out and it came amazingly close to expectations finding 1.37 million jobs versus the 1.35 million median estimate. Despite the positive beat, the scope of the damage still to be repaired is daunting.   10.5 million jobs have been created  in the last four months versus 22.2 million jobs lost in…

It’s jobs week and that means today we received the ADP Employment Change Report which disappointed finding only 428,000 new private sector jobs when 1.00 million were expected. That  compares to an even weaker but upwardly revised 212,000 jobs in July. Meanwhile, the Friday BLS Employment Report is expecting 1.39 million new jobs versus 1.76…

There is no surprise that you can only do so much when it comes to educating PPP borrowers. We have produced a comprehensive website, executed a detailed email campaign, conducted a series of webinars, produced videos, have a Getting Started Guide, and distributed a checklist – still, borrowers remain deficient in completing their application accurately….

It is around this time before a presidential election that bankers start to ponder how the results of the election will affect credit, interest rates, and the general business environment.  The stock and the acceptable answer is that presidents get too much credit when the economy does well and too much blame when it slumps. The complex…

Powell’s Inflation Message Gets Muddled One day after rolling out the Fed’s new Monetary Policy Framework several officials took to microphones and delivered a mixed follow-up as to what the new policy might look like in practice. From Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole speech it seemed clear to us they were going to lean more heavily…

Fed Chair Powell’s keynote address at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium of central bankers was the main event for the market this week and it didn’t disappoint. His address was on the Fed’s new Monetary Policy Framework, but it was not clear how much he would actually reveal about the policy ahead of its formal…

The major news of the week, from a market perspective, will be the keynote address by Fed Chair Powell to the virtual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium of central bankers. He’s expected to discuss the Fed’s new Monetary Policy Framework. While the framework hasn’t been formally released, expect Powell to disclose a few nuggets to…

If you are like 90% if banks out there, chances are your strategic planning process is not all that effective. Chances are your strategic planning process is a good budgeting exercise, but a poor driver of strategy. It likely your current strategic plan contains something about growth, geographical expansion, and digital transformation. You could exchange…

How Community Banks Protect NIM We feel that community banks have four significant attributes that can be successfully used to differentiate their brand against competitors in the market.  Borrowers find these four attributes valuable, and borrowers are willing to pay above market rate to purchase these attributes.  But community banks must understand what these attributes…

D.C. and a Virtual Jackson Hole Share Spotlight The annual symposium at Jackson Hole is usually a showstopper as central bankers from around the world convene in the bucolic outpost of Jackson Hole. This year it will be a mostly virtual event but the highlight will surely be the keynote address by Chair Powell on…

If this week has told us anything it’s that the residential housing market has maintained or even exceeded the momentum it carried into July from June. While other sectors paused, or plateaued in July, the housing sector has built on those June gains. With increasing home prices and a vibrant market it could prop up…

There is not a lot of first-tier information this week but what we are getting confirms that the housing market, along with the tech sector, continues to hit on all cylinders as the bounce in activity we saw in June was even bettered in July. Not many sectors of the economy can say that. Yesterday…