Water Cooler Talking Point: “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t live for this sh*t. It literally doesn’t get any better than capitalism rearing its ugly head. You’ve got 2M people watching ‘Billions’ weekly when this type of stuff is playing out in real life via the financial media every single day. Read, people.
”Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $480M to settle a 2016 class action lawsuit. The suit sought restitution for Wells Fargo customers for whom the bank had opened unauthorized bank accounts. Apparently, this is not a ‘best’ practice.
Wells has already been penalized by federal agencies for opening and charging fees on millions of bank accounts without customers’ knowledge or authorization. In January the Fed took the unprecedented step to effectively freeze the bank’s growth.
And just two weeks ago the CFPB and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fined Wells $1B, settling charges that the company bullied loan customers into purchasing unnecessary auto insurance and had charged excessive mortgage fees.
Water Cooler Talking Point: “Call me an optimist, but I think brighter times are on the horizon for Wells. Mostly because I don’t think it could possibly get any worse for them. Right … right?”
The US jobless rate dipped below 4% for the first time since the year 2000, hitting 3.9%. The jobless rate had spent the six months prior at 4.1%.
Not only are people going back to work, but they’re being paid more for their trouble. Average hourly earnings rose 0.1% from last month, and 2.6% from last year. For what it’s worth, the growth missed estimates.
Water Cooler Talking Point: “And yet my deadbeat roommate can’t manage to get a dishwashing job at Olive Garden to pay rent.”
