National

Coping with COVID: Rapid at-home COVID-19 test approved by FDA, no prescription required

A U.S Food and Drug Administration-approved rapid COVID-19 home test can send results back within 20 minutes. Australia-based company Ellume developed the test, which may hit store shelves soon. Consumers will be able to buy the take-home test over the… more

Report explores insurance climate in post-COVID world

Just two short weeks left in December and the rest of the year still leave questions regarding what the impact of COVID-19 will have on businesses and individuals in a (hopefully) post-COVID 2021. A newly released 2021 Insurance Industry Outlook… more

Rural Mainstreet Index shows majority of bankers expect decline in 2020 holiday sales

Compared to 2019, bankers expect 2020 retail sales to be down by 3.1 percent, according a Rural Mainstreet Index survey sent out to bank CEOs. The survey concluded that around 54.8 percent of bankers anticipate a reduction from 2019, while… more

Federal Reserve makes CRA asset-size threshold adjustments

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today announced the annual adjustment to the asset-size thresholds used to define small bank and intermediate small bank under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations.… more

Jobless claims climb, mark three-month weekly high

In the week ending Dec. 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 885,000, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 9,000 from 853,000 to 862,000. The… more

Coping with COVID: Survey concludes two-thirds of nursing homes could go under within a year

Respondents of a national nursing home survey conducted by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living show over 60 percent say they won’t be around next year if they have to continue to face higher costs… more

Healthcare IT company Cerner announces $375M acquisition

Health IT giant Cerner plans to acquire the health division of London-based Kantar Group for $375 million. The buy is expected to advance clinical research development. Kantar Health provides data, analytics, and research to the life sciences industry. With this acquisition,… more

McConnell acknowledges Biden, Harris as election winners

On the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognized Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the 2020 Presidential and Vice-Presidential winners. McConnell made a congratulatory announcement to the pair following a Monday… more

Moderna vaccine earns FDA researchers’ endorsement

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration endorsed the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Moderna as safe and efficacious on Tuesday. The statement arrives just a day after the first doses of a competing vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech were delivered… more

Rising home prices driving highest equity gains since 2014

A continued surge in home prices nationwide is contributing to some of the largest gains in home equity not seen in six years, since 2014. Price appreciation has also pulled 370,000 borrowers out of negative equity since the third quarter… more