This Week in Finance News: 12 Stories You Need to See

A roundup of the week's most newsworthy financial industry press releases from PR Newswire, including grants for small businesses and an improvement in US consumer confidence.

NEW YORK, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the finance industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. Venmo Small Business Grant Now Accepting Applications to Support Emerging and Small Businesses
   The selected businesses will each receive $10,000 for expenses, such as rent, or to help digitize and promote their businesses. In addition to providing a financial grant, the Venmo Small Business Grant program provides recipients with access to technical expertise and mentorship on topics such as legal services, financial analysis, digital marketing, and more.
2. US Consumer Confidence Improved Again in July
   "Expectations for the next six months improved materially, reflecting greater confidence about future business conditions and job availability. This likely reveals consumers' belief that labor market conditions will remain favorable," said Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board.
3. Microsoft Deepens Relationship with PayPal to Offer Simple, Flexible Payment Options
   Customers in the U.S. will soon have the option to pay with Venmo in the Microsoft Store. Venmo is currently available in the Microsoft Store on Xbox in the U.S. These new integrations offer customers more flexible ways to pay and help increase customer loyalty.
4. Two-Thirds of Americans Say Their Financial Planning Needs Improvement
   One factor driving this could be the current economic landscape. Nearly one in five people (18%) say that recent economic uncertainty has led them to either begin working with a financial advisor or plan to work with one at a later date.
5. First-ever FinTok Awards Confirm TikTok Can Be a "Responsible Educator"
   Debt.com has announced the winners of the first-ever FinTok Awards, which recognizes the TikTok content producers offering the most reliable financial advice on the social media app best known for trendy dances, viral challenges, and comedy skits.
6. Mid-Year Tax Planning More Important Than Ever Before
   "Many Americans' experienced smaller tax refunds this past tax season, and in many cases, there was an increase in people owing balances due compared to last year. Next year's Tax Day might look very similar for many taxpayers if they don't take immediate action now to make adjustments," said Mark Steber, Chief Tax Information Officer at Jackson Hewitt.
7. BofA Finds 75% of Mid-Sized Businesses Expect Revenue to Increase in the Next 12 Months Despite Economic Challenges
   Mid-sized business owners maintain a positive outlook, as 75% plan to expand their business and 67% expect the national economy to improve over the next 12 months.
8. S&P Global Market Intelligence introduces library of macroeconomic and geopolitical risk scenarios into its Credit Analytics solution
   The library of economic impact scenarios includes a predefined set of forecasts exploring the impact of events such as the Ukraine–Russia War, Global Water Scarcity and Global Cyber Attacks on key economic drivers including commodity prices, exchange rates, and monetary and financial policy.
9. Americans Are Spending Less on Impulse Purchases in 2023 Than in Prior Years, According to Annual Survey Commissioned by Slickdeals
   Respondents are also spending less overall on impulse purchases. The average person is only spending $151 impulsively per month, which is down from previous years ($314 in 2022, $276 in 2021 and $183 in 2020).
10. Nearly Three-Quarters of Undergraduates Received Some Type of Financial Aid in 2019-20
    Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of all undergraduates received some type of financial aid in the 2019-20 academic year, according to data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical center within the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The average amount of aid received was $14,100.
11. Robert Half Named to Forbes' America's Best Employers for Women 2023
    Respondents rated their employer on several attributes, including workplace conditions, potential for development, company image and issues that support gender equality, such as parental leave, family support, flexibility and pay equity.
12. National Write Your Congressman Index Reveals Business Owners' Concerns About U.S. Economic Conditions, Hiring Challenges and Rising Interest Rates
    The survey found business owners are concerned about hiring qualified workers, keeping up with rising costs of employees' pay and salary, inflation, taxes and regulations. Seventy-five percent of business owners said their business was not growing or has remained flat.

Read more of the latest finance-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNfinance on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for Invesco, S&P Global, and LendingTree.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

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