There’s a growing bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to strengthen antitrust agencies and weaken the dominance a few big companies have over entire industries in the United States, namely the big tech companies. In June, House lawmakers took their first votes on a series of bills that would, for one thing, make it harder for companies to acquire potential rivals. And that’s a big deal, says Maryland Smith’s Bruno Pellegrino. His research proves that America has an oligopoly problem.

Financial institutions should be accounting for climate change, but risk models currently are insufficient for regulators to mandate climate stress testing or capital requirements, Maryland Smith’s Clifford Rossi said this week, speaking to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions in the U.S. House of Representatives.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Facebook isn’t going to be broken up just now. In a stunning ruling this week, a federal judge dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought against the social media behemoth by the Federal Trade Commission and some 46 states.

Maryland Smith’s Serhiy Kozak won the 2020 Fama-DFA Prize for the best paper published in the Journal of Financial Economics in the area of capital markets and asset pricing. Kozak’s research, “Shrinking the Cross Section,” was published in the February 2020 issue of the journal.

Maryland Smith’s Bruno Pellegrino won the 2021 Charles River Associates Award for the best paper on corporate finance, announced June 17 at the Western Finance Association’s annual conference. Pellegrino’s research looks at the rise of oligopolies in the United States with a groundbreaking new model for economists to more accurately measure competition in U.S. markets and the consequences for consumers.

What’s ahead for mortgage rates? There will be movement, says Maryland Smith’s Clifford Rossi, the question is: How much? Rossi says he expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate to remain low by historical standards, but not as low as it is now. He says the 30-year mortgage rate is likely to rise to 3.5-3.6% by year-end, from the current 2.7%. The 15-year mortgage rate, he says, could also rise to 2.5-2.6%, from the current 2.1%.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – In the housing market, 2021 is shaping up to be the year of the bidding war. In the United States, prospective home buyers are facing fierce competition for limited inventory, as low mortgage rates and pent-up demand drives a seller’s market. Homes for sale are seeing multiple offers, often above the asking price and above appraised value.

In their seven-week experiential learning projects, master’s of quantitative finance students are given a task that realistically would take many months to accomplish. That’s intentional, says Maryland Smith’s Clifford Rossi. In academics as in life, the most arduous challenges are often the ones that teach us the most.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is looking to the future – one oriented around the intersection of finance and technology, climate change and human capital. Gensler's remarks opened the eighth annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation, which offers a forum for leaders from academia, government, the financial sector, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to discuss regulatory policies and relevant industry topics.

As part of the #KeepGlobalSmith campaign, the Center for Global Business held the International Business (IB) Agility Lab: Finance from February 24-26, 2021. The IB Agility Labs are short, virtual case competitions that allow undergraduate students to learn from global business leaders, collaborate with international peers, and focus on business resilience.