Venture capitalists take steps to back black founders

Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial insight, gathered from around the web:

'Financial abuse' and the stimulus

"Hundreds of people have written to me wondering why they have not received their stimulus payment," said Quentin Fottrell at Market​ Watch. A scenario seen frequently with couples who are married but estranged is that one spouse — usually the husband — ­demands the full stimulus payment. That's financial abuse — a situation in which "an abuser takes control of finances to prevent the other person from leaving and to maintain power in a ­relationship" — and you shouldn't stand for it. If your partner does that to you, "he has no legal right to keep your money." Your best option may be not to call the IRS support lines but to appeal to your local IRS Taxpayer Advocate; there is at least one in each state. You should be able to get your money, and if a joint return was filed through forgery or fraud, the consequences can be very serious.

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JETS fund takes off

An obscure exchange-traded fund that tracks U.S. airlines has exploded in popularity, thanks to young day traders, said Katherine Greifeld at Bloomberg. The U.S. Global Jets ETF, ticker JETS, held "just $33 million in assets in early March as the coronavirus pandemic grounded global air travel." But traders "looking to catch the bottom in airline stocks" have pushed the fund above $1 billion. "All these Millennials, being stuck at home with no bars to go to and no beaches to travel to, took their money and became day traders," said Frank Holmes, the chief executive of JETS issuer U.S. Global Investors. Though Warren Buffett announced he was dumping his airline holdings, JETS investors have seen a gain of more than 60 percent in the last month.

VCs take steps to back black founders

Some venture capital firms are stepping up to support founders of color in the wake of protests, said Natasha Mascarenhas and Jonathan Shieber at TechCrunch. VC firms encountered criticism last week for tweeting in support of the Black Lives Matter protests while doing little to address the fact that "just 1 percent of VC-backed founders are black." A few venture capitalists have pledged to make changes. The New York–based investment firm Work-Bench "detailed steps it would take to make sure it is encouraging black entrepreneurs and investors." The head of tech conglomerate SoftBank's new $100 million Opportunity Growth Fund promises to be "an effective ally to black Americans who have been fighting injustice for centuries."

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