Celebrating Black History Month

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What's Happening Today

Good morning! It's Kristin with your daily morning digest.

Today is the first day of Black History Month, and in addition to celebrating all the contributions and achievements of the Black community, The Balance is going to address the homeownership gap between Black households and their counterparts. The Black homeownership rate for the third quarter of 2021 (the latest available data) was 44%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, compared to 74% for White Americans and 65% nationally.

Throughout the month, we'll highlight articles and have conversations on Instagram Live with Black first-time homebuyers. We hope you'll join us tomorrow, Feb. 2, at 6 p.m. Eastern, when we chat with Brookings Metro senior fellow Andre Perry about redlining, segregation, and more.

Now, I'm sure many investors will be happy to put January in the rearview mirror after a bumpy ride in the markets. The Nasdaq lost close to 9%, the S&P 500 fell over 5%, and the Dow dropped more than 3% in January. In the bond market, yields are starting to stabilize after spiking at the beginning of the year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, often used as a benchmark for other interest rates, had surged over 17% in the first week of January.

But if markets have scared off some investors lately, cryptocurrency investors aren't as skittish. Bitcoin owners expect the price of Bitcoin to rebound from its recent losses to more than $55,000 over the next six months, according to a new study from Morning Consult.

Meanwhile, an index of U.S. manufacturing managers' outlook, IHS Markit's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), dropped to a reading of 55.5 in January, its lowest reading since October 2020, according to a release this morning. The decline suggests that confidence took a hit in January, but remains positive, as any reading above 50 indicates business conditions are improving.

- Kristin

Editors' Picks

Fewer U.S. Workers Quit, Some Supply Snarls Improve (The Balance)

Bitcoin Owners Expect a Rebound to $55,000 in Six Months, Study Finds (MarketWatch)

Would the Build Back Better Plan Make Inflation Worse? (The Balance)

How Does Home Equity Contribute to the Racial Wealth Gap? (The Balance)

Bond Market Hints at Calm After Disruptive Selloff (The Wall Street Journal)

Spotlight: Celebrating Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month, we'll be highlighting content celebrating Black communities. Throughout February, we'll address the homeownership gap between Black households and their counterparts which has contributed to racial wealth inequality.

How Racism, Housing Segregation Has Denied Black Americans Wealth

Housing segregation, redlining, and other racism in the U.S. housing market has denied Black Americans homeownership and widened the racial wealth gap for years.

Off the Charts

A monthly survey asking consumers about their financial vulnerability showed things took a sharp turn for the worse in January.

As the chart below shows, 29% of U.S. adults polled by Morning Consult Jan. 11-12, said they didn't have enough savings to cover a month's worth of basic expenses, an increase from 22.3% of those polled in December.

That many people haven't felt so financially vulnerable since the question was first asked in May 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak locked down much of the economy.

Number of the Day

20 - That's how many months it took the bottom half of U.S. earners to recover from the COVID-19 economic crisis—a remarkably fast comeback, a new tracker of income shows.

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