The SBA and PROtagonist

protagonist

 

pro·tag·o·nist

-the principal character in a literary work (such as a drama or story) -the leading actor or principal character in a television show, movie, book, etc.

-an active participant in an event

-a leader, proponent, or supporter of a cause

 

-from Greek protagonistes, a word for the main actor in a play. It is made up of the words protos, meaning “first,” and agonistes, meaning “actor” or “competitor.”

 

The hero is the "first struggler", which is the literal meaning of the Greek word prōtagōnistēs.

A character who opposes the hero is the antagonist, from a Greek verb that means literally "to struggle against".

 

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TIP OF THE WEEK

 

Is the lender or the borrower the protagonist with government guaranteed loans?

 

The borrower needs to be able to demonstrate the ability to repay both SBA and SSBCI guaranteed loans.

 

The lender must explain why credit elsewhere is not available without the SBA or SSBCI guarantee.

 

The similarities end there.

 

It would be proficuous to know the distinctions.

 

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Indices:

PRIME RATE= 8.50%

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SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for August

 

For 20 year debentures, the debenture rate is only 4.73% but note rate is 4.80% and the effective yield is 6.115%.

For 25 year debentures, the debenture rate is only 4.73% but note rate is 4.78% and the effective yield is 6.045%.

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AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE

 

Employment and inflation are the protagonist and antagonist for Federal Reserve monetary policy.

 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday revised down its estimate of total employment in March 2024 by a whopping 818,000.

 

Here are the latest jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

July        114,000

June      179,000

May       216,000

April       108,000

March       310,000

Feb        270,000

Jan         256,000

2023       2,700,000

2022      4,810,000

2021       7,270,000

2020    -9,370,000

2019     2,108,000

2018      2,679,000

2017      2,110,000

2016      2,160,000

2015     2,740,000

2014     3,116,000

2013     2,074,000

2012     2,193,000

2011     2,103,000

2010    1,022,000

2009    -5,052,000

2008    -3,617,000

2007    1,115,000

2006    2,071,000

2005    2,484,000

2004    2,019,000

 

What does all this mean?

 

I don't know.

 

No need for proditomania.

 

The numbers are routinely revised each month, but the BLS does a broader revision each year when it gets the results of the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.

 

Even with the revisions, the participation rate is still high.   The is the percentage of the population that works.

 

The 25 to 54 years old participation rate increased in July to 84.0% from 83.7% in June to the highest level since 2001.

 

One profligate propaedeutic has been that there is a trade-off between jobs and inflation.

 

At the most recent auction of 30 year treasury bonds, the high yield was awarded at 4.314 percent versus 4.405 percent a month ago, 4.403 percent two months ago and 4.635 percent three months ago.

 

Friday the 30 year treasury bond closed at 4.093%.

 

Will the Federal Reserve be proactive and start lowering interest rates?    Fed funds future imply that it will happen.

 

At its last meeting on monetary policy, the FOMC added a word with inflation now "somewhat" elevated.

 

This suggests that sufficient progress has been made in disinflation to downgrade that risk.

 

In a pivotal move, the word "highly" has been removed from the phrase "highly attentive to inflation risks" that has been present since May 2022.

 

Attention is now shifted to "both sides of its dual mandate".

 

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OFF BASE

 

Today, Monday, Danny Jansen will become the protagonist in one of the strangest statistical oddities ever in baseball.

 

With one more strike he would have been the only player while at bat to also be the catcher.

 

Danny Jansen, who was traded from the Blue Jays to the Red Sox recently, was in the Blue Jays’ starting lineup and played the first two innings as their catcher and was at the plate when the game was suspended because of rain.

 

The makeup game today will force the Blue Jays to pinch-hit for Jansen, who could be catching for the Red Sox that day.

 

Jansen was a member of the Blue Jays on June 26 when the game began. He started at catcher and was batting seventh for Toronto, and he was actually at bat, facing an 0-1 count, when the game was suspended due to rain in the top of the second inning.

 

Jansen is technically still at bat for the Blue Jays -- even though he's on the Red Sox now -- with an 0-1 count, one out.

 

Obviously, he can't finish his at-bat since he's now on the opposing team. So Toronto will have to pinch-hit for Jansen when the game resumes.

 

But the fun part will be if Boston subs Jansen in at catcher right away.

 

That would result in Jansen catching a plate appearance that he started as the batter for the other team.

 

Unfortunately for the historical oddities at play, because there were less than two strikes on Jansen, whoever the Blue Jays use as the pinch-hitter for Jansen will get statistical credit for the result of the at-bat no matter what.

If there were two strikes, and the pinch-hitter struck out, that strikeout would be charged to Jansen, which would mean Danny Jansen caught a strikeout of Danny Jansen.

 

If Jansen does play in the game for the Red Sox after it resumes, he will indeed appear in the final box score for both teams, under the original date of the game. You'd see a statistical line for Jansen on both sides for June 26.

 

If that is making your head spin, a three day weekend approaches!