News From the Control Tower - 6/10/2020

This week's reads feature:

1. Everyone knows retail investors dived back into the market as stocks rebounded. Now, evidence is starting to build that their buying has become a key driver of the beaten-down shares that are dominating the rally.

Everywhere You Look Under Surging Stocks Is Fervid Retail Buying

2. Too often, structured products and exchange-traded notes mislead their buyers.

Beware of Banks Bearing Promises

3. The pandemic has complicated the usual methods and models for compiling employment data. But uncertainty has been offset by transparency.

No, the Jobs Report Wasn’t Rigged. Here’s What Happened.

4. A rip in the fabric of the economy won’t be healed easily, and denial of the severity of the crisis won’t solve it.

Don’t Lose the Thread. The Economy Is Experiencing an Epic Collapse of Demand.

5. Black employment rates are plummeting, and the evolving wealth and income hit could fall on the shoulders of those ill-equipped to bear it.

Black Workers, Already Lagging, Face Big Economic Risks

6. Yet another way this downturn is unlike others: Women’s unemployment has risen more than men’s.  Expect to see a widening gender pay gap in two to three years.

“In America, despite making up less than half of the workforce, [women] accounted for 55% of jobs lost in April.”

Downturns tend to reduce gender inequality. Not under covid-19.

Bonus: Follow the Money. The Coinage of Later Imperial Rome: A Reflection of Economic Stress and Decline