Morning Consult Finance: What’s Ahead & Week in Review
 

Finance

Essential financial news & intel to start your day.
September 18, 2022
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Good morning, finance readers. 

 

I was interested to see that the Bloomberg article we shared last week, “Top-Ranked US Colleges All Cost More Than $55,000 a Year,” was one of our most-read newsletter picks. As a parent of two and as someone who covers finance for a living, I shouldn’t be shocked by those figures, but they always make me cringe — and maybe sweat a little, too.

 

For those who financed some or all of their college education and still owe the federal government, the repayment pause that offered a reprieve from monthly bills will end in just a few short months. What share of borrowers said they would “definitely” be able to afford their student loan payments once the moratorium lifts? 

 

A: 3%

B: 13%

C: 23%

D: 33%

 

You can find the answer at the bottom of today’s newsletter.

 

What’s Ahead

The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day meeting Tuesday, with a press conference scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday. While anything less than a 75-basis-point interest rate hike seems unlikely, some market watchers have speculated that a 100-basis-point increase isn’t off the table. 

 

The chief executives of Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Truist Financial Corp., U.S. Bancorp and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. will testify in the Senate Banking Committee’s annual oversight hearing of the nation’s largest banks on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. 

 

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink are among the long list of high-profile speakers at the Clinton Foundation’s Global Initiative meeting Monday and Tuesday. 

 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will be interviewed at The Atlantic Festival’s Ideas Stage session, which begins at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. 

 

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu will give the keynote address at EMERGE Financial Health 2022 on Wednesday at 5 p.m. 

 

World Bank Group President David Malpass will take part in a webinar at The Economic Club of New York on Monday at 12 p.m. The club will also host economist and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm on Thursday at 12 p.m. 

 

Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and French Hill (R-Ark.) will join a panel hosted by The Hill on Thursday at 8:30 a.m., looking at issues in housing affordability and equity. 

 

Hearings to watch: 

 

Numbers to watch: On Tuesday, the Census Bureau releases figures on new residential construction, and on Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors updates its data on existing home sales. 

 

Week in Review

White House weighs in on crypto: Federal agencies released a framework and several reports on crypto regulation, with National Economic Council Director Brian Deese telling reporters that the administration believes that “prudent regulation of cryptocurrencies is needed if digital assets are going to play the role we believe they can in fostering innovation and supporting our economic and technological competitiveness.” The framework reports urged the Federal Reserve to continue researching a central bank digital currency, and noted that President Joe Biden plans to evaluate whether to ask Congress to consider amending certain rules, including the Bank Secrecy Act, to include crypto. 

 

Keeping the trains running: A tentative agreement brokered by the White House and rail union negotiators may have averted a looming strike that threatened to upend supply chains, though the deal faces several more steps, including a union vote, before it is formally ratified. Biden said in a statement that the deal would result in “better pay, improved working conditions and peace of mind around their health care costs” for rail workers. 

 

Tenacious inflation: The Labor Department’s latest consumer price index figures showed inflation growing at a rate of 8.3% year over year, a small deceleration from the previous month, setting the stage for another “jumbo” 75-basis-point rate increase by the FOMC. Core CPI, which removes food and energy prices, rose 6.3% versus a year ago, the first acceleration in six months on an annual basis, coming in above Wall Street forecasts. 

 

Senate punts stock trading ban legislation past November midterms: A New York Times analysis found that 97 members of Congress or their immediate family bought or sold stocks in industries that could have been affected by those lawmakers’ decisions, prompting outcry from progressive groups for the legislature to pass a bill prohibiting stock trading by lawmakers. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told Insider that stock-trading legislation would not be introduced before the November midterm elections.

 
Stat of the Week
 

28%

The share of Gen Z adults who said in August that they believe they are securing their financial future “completely” or “very well,” according to the Morning Consult Financial Well-Being Scale. That’s down from 38% in July.

 
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