FEDERAL EVICTION PROTECTIONS HAVE ENDED, LEAVING RENTERS SCRAMBLING — Vox’s Maryam Gamar: “It’s August 1, and rent is due. That’s a big change for many Americans who had been unable to pay rent but were protected from eviction by a federal moratorium. Now, those protections are gone. …” But the eviction crisis has let to some stronger tenant protections — AP’s Michael Casey and Ben Finley: “The Virginia event in late July is part of a growing national movement — bolstered by tens of billions of dollars in federal rental assistance — to find ways to keep millions of at-risk tenants hurt by the coronavirus pandemic in their homes. “The push has the potential to reshape a system long skewed in favor of landlords that has resulted in about 3.7 million evictions a year — about seven every minute — according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Many are Black and Latino families.” REDUCTION IN FED’S ASSET PURCHASES MIGHT NOT SPARK ‘TAPER TANTRUM’ — WSJ’s Paul Kiernan: “Investors barely reacted last week when Federal Reserve officials signaled they could announce plans to start reducing their bond buying later this year. That was a relief for policy makers eager to avoid a repeat of the market turmoil that erupted in 2013 when the Fed made a similar announcement. The Fed’s next test will come when it outlines a concrete plan for when and how it will scale back, or taper, the asset purchases. “The central bank has been buying $120 billion a month of Treasury and mortgage securities since June 2020, a pace officials say will continue until the economic recovery advances further. By bidding up the price of long-term bonds, the purchases tend to hold down borrowing costs for businesses and consumers, since bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.” INFLATION IS HOT NOW, BUT INVESTORS AREN’T HOLDING THEIR BREATH — WSJ’s Akane Otani and Sam Goldfarb: “Investors are betting the inflationary streak that has sent prices of everything from used cars to lumber soaring will fade in the coming years, a reassuring sign for markets struggling to find direction. Few issues have vexed money managers more this year than inflation. As the global economy has regained its footing, prices for goods and services have risen—in many cases far faster than economists had anticipated. Labor shortages and supply-chain disruptions snarling the global shipping industry have added to inflationary pressures.” FED’S BRAINARD CAN’T WRAP HEAD AROUND NOT HAVING CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY — Reuters’ Ann Saphir: “Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard on Friday laid out a range of reasons for "urgency" around the issue of developing a U.S. central bank digital currency, including the fact that other countries such as China are moving ahead with their own. “‘The dollar is very dominant in international payments, and if you have the other major jurisdictions in the world with a digital currency, a CBDC (central bank digital currency) offering, and the U.S. doesn't have one, I just, I can't wrap my head around that,’ Brainard told the Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group. ‘That just doesn't sound like a sustainable future to me.’” MINNEAPOLIS FED CHIEF SAYS DELTA COULD SLOW LABOR MARKET RECOVERY — Reuters’ Sarah N. Lynch: “Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Sunday that concerns about the spread of the contagious Delta variant could slow the U.S. labor market recovery. “‘It’s really creating a bunch of caution,’ he told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’, noting that between seven and nine million Americans are still out of work likely due to anxiety about the coronavirus. Kashkari added he had been ‘optimistic’ before that many would be returning to work and while that is still his ‘base case scenario,’ he said that ‘if people are nervous about the Delta variant, that could slow some of that labor market recovery.’” CRYPTO INVESTORS GET READY FOR MORE TAXES, BUT CLEARER RULES — Bloomberg’s Ben Steverman, Claire Ballentine and Donald Moore: “Sure, you might have to actually pay U.S. taxes on those crypto trades. "But at least it will be easier to figure out how much you owe. A new push by Congress to require crypto brokers to report transactions to the Internal Revenue Service could create some unwelcome tax bills but could clarify rules for traders and users of Bitcoin and other digital tokens, potentially strengthening the system in the long run, people in the industry say.” ROBINHOOD SOLD IPO SHARES TO MORE THAN 300K OF ITS CUSTOMERS — WSJ’s Marie Beaudette: “Hundreds of thousands of Robinhood Markets Inc.’s customers bought shares in the trading app’s rocky initial public offering earlier this week. In a post on its app, Robinhood said 301,573 users participated in the IPO, which raised about $2 billion and valued the company at $32 billion. That represents about 1.3% of the company’s 22.5 million funded accounts as of June 30.” | 
