A New York man will spend the next 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges relating to his part in a scheme that defrauded more than 1,000 distressed homeowners by falsely promising loan modifications. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
GE expands its German 3-D metal printer Concept Laser with plans for bigger headquarters
General Electric Co. said Wednesday it is aggressively expanding German 3-D metal printing company Concept Laser GmbH, in which it purchased a 75% stake in mid-December. GE has increased the number of employees at the company to 244 from 200 and is expected to reach 350 to 400 people by early 2018. Most of the new hires will be in engineering and technicians, GE said in a statement. GE is planning a big expansion of the company’s headquarters in Lichtenfels with new space planned for manufacturing, product development, testing and administration. The company also has operations in the U.S., in Grapevine, Texas, and in China. GE has been on a buying spree of 3-D metal printing companies of late. In 2016, it acquired Sweden’s Arcam AB and Germany’s SLM Solutions Group AG for a combined $1.4 billion. Those moves were aimed at pushing the company into 3-D printing as a way to make aircraft components and other parts. 3-D printing involves using digital designs and modeling software with laser technology to create parts that are usually lighter and more durable than traditionally manufactured parts because they need less welding and machining. But much of the promise of the market is the extra design possibilities for engineers. GE shares were flat Wednesday, and are down 5.5% in the year so far. The Ark Invest’s 3D Printing ETF has gained 5% in the same time frame, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.7%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Express shares slide 13% to record low after company disappoints with grim outlook
Shares of teen retailer Express Inc. slid to a record low Wednesday, after the company provided a downbeat outlook for the fiscal first quarter along with declines in fourth-quarter profit and sales. MKM Partners noted a 640 basis point decline in operating margins and said the outlook for the first quarter was particularly disappointing. “While we appreciate the environment was exceptionally tough in early February, guidance suggests that 1Q will not be an inflection quarter despite the reduced SKU (shelf keeping unit) count and improvement to merchandise vs. last year,” analyst Roxanne Meyer wrote in a note. “This creates a bit lower visibility for the pace of improvement in 2Q as well, and could serve as an overhang for the stock near-term, in our view.” MKM rates the stock neutral with a price target of $11. The stock fell 13% to $9.33 in early trade, and is down 51% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 20%.
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From:: Stock Market News
MGP Ingredients shares surge 8% after better-than-expected quarterly earnings
Shares of MGP Ingredients Inc. surged 8% Wednesday, after the supplier of distilled spirits and specialty wheat proteins and starches reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. The Atchison, Kansas-based company said net income rose 28% to $8.3 million, or 48 cents a share, topping the FactSet consensus by 24%. Revenue edged down 0.4% to $81.1 million, but was slightly ahead of the consensus of $81 million. The company said higher sales of premium beverage alcohol was offset by a decline in lower margin industrial alcohol. “While yearlong softness in the industrial alcohol market offset premium beverage revenue gains, MGP’s bourbon and rye whiskeys reported strong revenue growth throughout the year, outperforming the continued steady growth of the bourbon category and contributing to gains in MGP’s gross profit and margins,” Chief Executive Gus Griffin said in a statement. The company said it’s sticking with its outlook for operating income to grow 10% to 15% annually through 2018, although sales are expected to grow modestly this year as the company continues to shift away from industrial alcohol. Shares have gained 92% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 20%.
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From:: Stock Market News
GE’s Nason, a front runner for Fed post, drops out: reports
David Nason, a former Treasury Department official and now a senior executive at General Electric , has indicated he is not interested in joining the Federal Reserve board of governors, according to several press reports. Nason had been reported to be the Trump administration’s top choice to become the first ever vice chairman for bank supervision at the central bank and oversee the nation’s biggest banks. Congress carved out that position as part of the Dodd-Frank law but the Obama administration never filled it. Other candidates touted by the media for the post are John Allison, a former CEO at regional bank BB&T and Tom Hoenig, vice chairman at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., but some reports say the White House has broadened its search.
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From:: Stock Market News
Loan Applications for Home Purchases Strong
Residential loan applications completed moved higher in the latest seven-day period, with purchase financing activity maintaining a strengthening pace.
In the week that concluded on March 3, the Market Composite Index moved higher by a seasonally adjusted 3 percent from a week earlier.
But without seasonal adjustments, the index, a measure of mortgage application volume, leapt 16 percent from the week that included Presidents Day.
…read more
From:: Financing
New lows topping new highs for a third-straight session
Although the stock market is mostly higher, the number of NYSE-listed stocks that have hit new 52-week lows is higher than the number hitting 52-week highs by a 49-to-33 score. That would market the third-straight session that new lows topped new highs, which would be the longest such streak since the 8-session stretch ending Nov. 4, 2016. Back then, the S&P 500 had declined in each of those eight sessions to close at a 4 1/2-month low on Nov. 4, or 4.8% below the most recent record close of 2,190.15 on Aug. 15. In the current streak, the S&P 500 fell on Monday and Tuesday, but was up 0.1% in morning trade Wednesday, and was 1% below the latest record close of 2,395.96 reached just a week ago. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 8 points in morning trade, but the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Goldman Sachs housing conference answers three of your top regulatory, CFPB questions
President Donald Trump is still within his first 100 days in office, so far, the majority of Americans believe he is executing on his campaign promises. Despite housing not being a big topic of conversation during the election, it’s made it way to the top of the pile under the Trump administration. So what does this mean for the industry? Panelists at Goldman Sachs’ annual housing and consumer finance housing conference in New York City answer three top questions. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
U.S. crude supplies top 528 million barrels to log another EIA weekly record
The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported an 8.2 million-barrel climb in domestic crude supplies for last week, lifting total commercial inventories to a new record weekly level of 528.4 million. That marked a ninth straight weekly increase. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a rise of 11.6 million barrels, according to sources, while analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast an increase of 1.6 million barrels. Gasoline supplies, however, dropped 6.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles were down 2.7 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. April crude fell 45 cents, or 0.9%, at $52.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading at $52.45 before the supply data.
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From:: Stock Market News
U.S. stocks open flat as strong ADP report cements expectations for rate hike
U.S. stocks opened flat on Wednesday after the latest data on the labor market came in far stronger than expected, adding to expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its meeting next week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points to 20,943, a rise of less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 rose less than a point to 2,369. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose less than 0.1% to 5,836, a move of 3 points on the day. Equities have been in a strong uptrend of late, with major indexes hitting a series of records and the S&P 500 coming off a six-week streak of gains. While the ADP jobs data pointed to an economy that was improving, higher rates could represent a headwind for further gains. Much of the market’s advance over the past several years has been attributed to the low-rate environment, although some sectors – notably banks – are expected to thrive in an environment with higher rates. Financials were the strongest performers of the day on Wednesday, up 0.8%, with Goldman Sachs among the most active, rising 0.9%.
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From:: Stock Market News