- The Economy & Your Finances: Economy unlikely to return to normal before 2022
- The Market & Industry: Calif. market outperforms expectations
- Around the State: New guidance for private gatherings
- Health Check-Up: Nevada man confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 twice
The Economy & Your Finances: Economy unlikely to return to normal before 2022
Layoffs continue to hinder economic recovery — last week, the number of Americans seeking jobless assistance rose to 898,000. The country is still 10.7 million jobs short of pre-pandemic employment levels. While workers are returning to jobs faster than initially expected, economists predict the economy won’t return to normal until at least 2022.
California is slowly reviving lost jobs; its September unemployment rate was 11 percent, down from 11.2 percent in August and significantly higher than the national rate of 7.9 percent. Job postings, too, are down 24.8 percent from January 2020 and have not shown an uptick since August. With the looming flu season bringing with it the possibility of more shutdowns, economists are concerned about additional job losses.
Additional relief from the federal government is unlikely to arrive before the election, as the White House and Congressional Democrats remain divided on many subjects and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned the White House not to make a deal before the election. Democrats have been pushing for a comprehensive stimulus package totaling $2.2 trillion. Today, the Senate will vote on a $300 billion “skinny bill” to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), though the vote is expected to fail.
Sources: PBS, FiveThirtyEight, Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Mercury News, CNN, ABC News
The Market & Industry: Calif. market outperforms expectations
The California housing market outperformed expectations in September, with home sales climbing to their highest level in over a decade and the median home sale price setting another high. Buyers continue to take advantage of record-low interest rates — although mortgage applications are continuing to fall — and homes are selling so fast, they’re defying seasonal norms.
In the Bay Area, where the median price for an existing single-family home is up 20.5 percent from September 2019, rents have taken one of the steepest dives of any city in the United States. San Francisco’s rental prices declined 31 percent year over year in September. Throughout the pandemic, rental markets with lower rental prices — like the Inland Empire and Sacramento — have been more resilient.
Homebuilder sentiment set another record high in October, although record-high lumber costs are driving up the prices of new homes. And forbearances rose slightly last week, after dropping 18 percent the week prior.
Sources: C.A.R. Research & Economics, REALTOR® Magazine, CNBC, Zillow Research, The San Francisco Chronicle, Inman News, HousingWire
Around the State: New guidance for private gatherings
As of yesterday at 10:58 p.m., cases in California numbered 884,519 and deaths had reached 17,066. California’s numbers have been, for the most part, staying flat despite a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, warned that nationwide rates are too high heading into what is expected to be a difficult winter. CDC Director Robert Redfield said an increase in small gatherings is helping to drive the surge in cases.
California teachers unions are fighting calls from dissatisfied parents to reopen schools, saying teachers cannot teach in person unless conditions are safe. Currently under state rules, schools in all districts may reopen once their county reaches the red tier under Governor Newsom’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
State health officials are encouraging Californians to avoid trick-or-treating this year due to the pandemic. This is a recommendation that will not be enforced. The California Department of Public Health released a list of safer Halloween and Día de los Muertos activities, reminding would-be trick-or-treaters that: “The more people from different households with whom a person interacts, the closer the physical interaction is, and the longer the interaction lasts, the higher the risk that a person with COVID-19 infection — symptomatic or asymptomatic — may spread it to others.”
Sources: Los Angeles Times, The Mercury News, CNN, State of California, California Department of Public Health
Health Check-Up: Nevada man confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 twice
An unidentified man in Nevada became the first confirmed case of a person being reinfected with COVID-19 in the U.S. The 25-year-old with no underlying medical conditions was infected twice with two distinct strains of COVID-19 and became sicker during his second infection, having to be hospitalized. Scientists are pointing to this case as evidence for the need of a vaccine, as having contracted the coronavirus once does not necessarily confer immunity should you come in contact with it again.
Last week, two high-profile, late-stage coronavirus trials — Johnson & Johnson’s test of a vaccine and Eli Lilly’s study of a COVID-19 antibody drug — were put on hold as a result of potential safety concerns. Johnson & Johnson is exploring whether a trial patient’s unexplained illness can be linked to the vaccine, and Eli Lilly is investigating an undisclosed “possible safety concern.”
The results of a recent study from the World Health Organization (WHO) show the drug remdesivir does not substantially affect mortality or reduce the need to intubate patients with COVID-19. The study has not yet been peer reviewed. In July, the company Gilead — which invented remdesivir — released data suggesting remdesivir may reduce likelihood of death, but that finding had not been confirmed in a randomized controlled trial.
Sources: The New York Times, Los Angeles Times