There were lots of headlines this week, including a bunch on Robinhood.  Choose what looks most interesting and dig in!

Economics

• GDP for the second quarter was announced this week, and the US is officially back to where it started before the pandemic hit. Sounds like good news, but the growth fell short of expectations, and jobless claims were a bit higher than expected. (CNBC) (DOL)
• The Urban Institute published its assessment of the impact of government benefit and stimulus measures on 2021 Poverty Projections: Assessing the Impact of Benefits and Stimulus Measures | Urban Institute
• Restaurants can’t keep or hire enough workers. Workers blame the low pay and lack of benefits. Long hours, stress, and rude customers don’t help. (NPR)
• Most “essential” workers are low paid. Receiving hazard pay during the pandemic may have changed how we all view that work going forward. (Politico)
• More data is available to look at the impact on employment in states that cut the supplemental unemployment benefits early. Older workers are returning to work, but no hiring boom seen. In states that kept the supplemental payments going, teens stepped up to fill some of the jobs. (WAPO-subscription may be required)
• The Federal Open Market Committee met this week. In case you are interested, here is a link to Chairman Powell’s statement. (CNBC)

Investing

Robinhood IPO-pre IPO chatter

• FINRA is investigating Robinhood because its CEO and its co-founder are not licensed as registered brokers. (Investment News)
• The Robinhood IPO was going to be unusual in that it planned to sell 35% of its shares to customers. (Morning Brew)
• Questions and red flags raised ahead of Robinhood IPO. (NYT)

Reality:

• The IPO was priced at $38. After a brief pop, the price dropped over 8%, making it one of the worst performance for an IPO of that size.
• “Over the last decade, only 17% of IPOs bigger than $1 billion saw the share price fall on their first day, said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO research.” (AP News)
• The New York Times post-mortem on the IPO.

Earnings announcements

• There were tons of corporate earnings announcements this week. Pandemic winners are beginning to see things taper. Here is Amazon’s announcement. (Reuters)

Paying for College

• Walmart announced that they will cover the cost of Tuition and books for all employees. (Business Insider)
• FAFSA completion rates dropped again for this year’s entering class. (Inside Higher Education)

Financial Literacy/Advocacy

• Buzzfeed picked up on the NGPF middle school course this week with a quiz based on the content.
• GoBanking Rates publishes the list of 25 states working on financial literacy legislation.
• Yahoo Finance published the American Public Education Foundation’s Report Card on Financial Literacy.  

• Nothing like a pandemic to get people to look at their savings situation. (BusinessWire)

About the Author

Beth Tallman

Beth Tallman entered the working world armed with an MBA in finance and thoroughly enjoyed her first career working in manufacturing and telecommunications, including a stint overseas. She took advantage of an involuntary separation to try teaching high school math, something she had always dreamed of doing. When fate stepped in once again, Beth jumped on the opportunity to combine her passion for numbers, money, and education to develop curriculum and teach personal finance at Oberlin College. Beth now spends her time writing on personal finance and financial education, conducts student workshops, and develops finance curricula and educational content. She is also the Treasurer of Ohio Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.