Curious about what it takes to start a bank? This story follows 2 women who started Fortuna (Roman Goddess of fortune) in Columbus Ohio. Of the 4,000 banks in this country 20 of them are woman owned. In 2024 only six banks were created a steep decline from pre-crash when 100 banks were opening every year. Fortuna is considered a ‘community’ bank which the Federal reserve defines as any bank with less than $10B in assets. For comparison Chase has $3.2T and BofA has $3.2T. Community banks provide funding for a lot of smaller entrepreneurs and Fortuna will be focused on female entrepreneurs. The process for starting the bank is approximately 3yrs of application and capital raise of $20M
Mortgage Rates increased slightly this week after nearly a month of steady decline. Rates are down approximately 0.25% from this time last year.
Jobs Report – the February BLS jobs Report reported 151,000 jobs created in February which was slightly lower than expectations. Average weekly earnings increased by 0.3% and are up 3.4% year over year (a decline from last month’s 3.6% reading. Average weekly hours remained at 34.1 – the lowest level in 15 years. The headline unemployment figure increased 0.1% to 4.1% but the U-6 unemployment rate, a more wholistic reading, increased from 7.5 to 8%, the highest level since October 2021.
Job Cuts – the US Challenger Job Cuts reported 172,017 cuts in Feb – the largest month of cuts since 2020 and the largest February numbers since 2009. DOGE cuts were impactful but there is also significant weakness in the retail and technology sectors.
Home Values – Core Logic reported that home values were flat in January but are still up 3.3% year over year – a similar number we have been seeing.
Rents – Apartment List released their rent index for February which showed rents rose 0.3% and are down 0.4% year over year. This year over year figure has been negative since mid-2023.
Mortgage Applications – to purchase homes rose 9% last week and are up 2% year over year. Refinances bumped 37% and are up 83% year over year.