Census Bureau: Number of Women-Owned Employer Firms Increases
Women-owned employer firms in the United States increased by approximately 2.8 percent in 2016 to 1,118,863 from 1,088,466 in 2015, according to findings from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs. The data also shows that women owned approximately 20.0 percent (1,118,863) of all employer businesses (5,601,758) nationwide. Additionally, about one-quarter (289,326 or…
Federal Reserve: FEDS Notes | Are Income and Credit Scores Highly Correlated?
Are Income and Credit Scores Highly Correlated? Rachael Beer, Felicia Ionescu, and Geng Li1 1. Introduction Credit scores, a numerical indicator constructed to predict borrowers’ credit risk, represent a crucial element of a person’s financial life and are used extensively in loan underwriting and pricing. On average, consumers with higher credit scores tend to have…
Census Bureau: Computer and Internet Use in the United States
The report titled “Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2016” looks at access to computers and broadband internet subscriptions nationwide. Differences can be seen by demographic, social and geographic characteristics across the digital divide between those who have and those who lack access to computers and the internet. This report examines key trends…
CDFI Fund: Application Demand for 2018 Round of NMTC Program Released
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced today that it received a total of 214 applications under the 2018 round of the New Markets Tax Credit Program (NMTC Program). The NMTC Program advances economic development in economically distressed communities by making tax credit allocations available to Community Development…
FHFA: Index Shows Mortgage Rates Increased in June 2018
Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages increased from May to June, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts. The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders Index was 4.59 percent for loans closed in late June, up 2 basis points from 4.57 percent in May. The…
ABA: Report Shows Credit Card Market Moderated in First Quarter 2018
Credit card use moderated in the first quarter of 2018, according to the American Bankers Association’s latest quarterly Credit Card Market Monitor. Compared to the previous quarter, purchase volumes fell 4-6 percent across risk tiers. On a year-over-year basis, purchase volumes rose across risk tiers, led by an 8.9 percent increase for super-prime accounts and…
HUD and Census Bureau: New Residential Sales Report for June 2018
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for June 2018: New Home Sales Sales of new single-family houses in June 2018 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 631,000. This is 5.3 percent (±17.1 percent)* below the revised May…
FHFA: House Price Index Up 0.2 Percent in May 2018
U.S. house prices rose in May, up 0.2 percent from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index (HPI). The previously reported 0.1 percent increase in April was revised upward to 0.2 percent. The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages…
Federal Reserve: Income Inequality, Financial Crises and Monetary Policy
Download the PDF: Income Inequality, Financial Crises, and Monetary Policy (PDF) by: Isabel Cairo and Jae W. Sim Abstract: We construct a general equilibrium model in which income inequality results in insufficient aggregate demand, deflation pressure, and excessive credit growth by allocating income to agents featuring low marginal propensity to consume, and if excessive, can lead…
HUD and Census Bureau: Residential Construction Activity Report for June 2018
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for June 2018. Building Permits: Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,273,000. This is 2.2 percent (±1.2 percent) below the revised…