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Oil prices log lowest settlement in 4 weeks

Oil prices dropped Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark marking its lowest settlement in about a month. The Energy Information Administration reported a second-straight weekly increase in U.S. crude stockpiles and data from the agency showed weekly domestic crude production topped 10 million barrels a day to reach a fresh record. March West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.60, or 2.5%, to settle at $61.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest finish since Jan. 8, according to FactSet data.

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Softbank in talks to acquire stake in Swiss Re worth up to $10 billion: WSJ

Japan’s biggest mobile-phone carrier Softbank Group Corp. is in talks to acquire a stake in Swiss Re AG worth up to $10 billion or more, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Swiss Re executives recently traveled to Tokyo to discuss the sale of up to a third of the reinsurer with Softbank’s Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, said the journal. Son has invested in a variety of companies and technologies, including e-commerce, driverless cars and virtual reality, and Softbank is majority owner of U.S. wireless company Sprint Corp. Swiss Re has a market cap equal to about $33 billion, said the journal.

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Fiserv Selling Majority Interest in Lending Unit

The planned sale of a majority of Fiserv Inc.’s lending unit will include its mortgage servicing software but will exclude its mortgage origination system.

On Wednesday, the Brookfield, Wisconsin-based company disclosed that it is selling 55 percent of its interest in Fiserv Lending Solutions to Warburg Pincus LLC.

By retaining a 45 percent interest in the business, Fiserv will create a joint venture that it said will strengthen service and innovation.

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Gold prices sink to a 1-month low

Gold futures dropped Wednesday to their lowest settlement in a month as strength in the U.S. dollar and strength in U.S. Treasury yields dulled investment demand for the precious metal. Gold had found little support from the recent U.S. stock market selloff and stocks were mixed in volatile trading as gold prices settled. April gold fell $14.90, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,314.60 an ounce, That was the lowest finish since Jan. 9 and biggest single-session dollar and percentage loss since November, according to FactSet data.

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New Business, Delinquency Worse at Genworth M.I.

Genworth Financial Inc.’s mortgage insurance unit saw increased income despite higher delinquency and losses at its parent. New business fell, but the book of business expanded.

In its fourth-quarter 2017 report, Genworth disclosed a $290 million loss from continuing operations before income taxes during the three months ended Dec. 31.

Losses at the Richmond, Virginia-based firm widened from $56 million in the final three months of 2016 and swung from a $286 million profit three months earlier.

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Senate leaders say they’ve reached two-year budget deal

Senate leaders said Wednesday they’ve reached agreement on a two-year budget deal that would raise spending for both defense and domestic programs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced the deal on the floor, just a day before government funding is due to expire. Earlier Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she and several other Democrats would vote against it unless they were guaranteed a vote on immigration.

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‘Black Panther’ advance ticket sales outpacing all other first-quarter film sales for Fandango

“Black Panther” continues to break advanced ticket sales records. Online ticket retailer Fandango, majority owned by Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, said on Wednesday that the Walt Disney Co. film from Marvel Studios is now outpacing presale tickets of all other first-quarter film releases in Fandango’s 18-year history. “Black Panther” is on track to surpass previous January to March presale record holders “The Hunger Games,” which went on to gross $694.4 million worldwide in 2012, and “Beauty and the Beast,” which was last year’s second highest grossing film domestically. Fandango had previously said “Black Panther” was also outpacing all other superhero films in advance ticket sales. “It’s not just a superhero movie, it’s a ground-breaking cultural event,” said Fandango managing editor Erik Davis in a statement. “It is hands down the first major movie event of 2018. We’re also seeing increased interest from larger groups of ticket-buyers looking to celebrate next weekend’s historic release.” Analysts at Box Office Pro expect “Black Panther” to bring in $139 million in its opening weekend and some forecasts are closer to $200 million. Shares of Disney are down 3% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 18% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 25%.

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Justice Department indicts 36 people for role in $530 million worth of cybercrime

The Justice Department said it’s indicted 36 people for their alleged role in an internet-based cybercriminal enterprise engaged in the large-scale acquisition, sale, and dissemination of stolen identities, compromised debit and credit cards, personally identifiable information, financial and banking information, computer malware, and other contraband. It said 13 people were arrested in the U.S., Australia, the U.K., France, Italy, Kosovo and Serbia. Its members allegedly caused more than $530 million in actual losses to consumers, businesses, and financial institutions, the Justice Department said. The group was called the Infraud Organization and had a slogan, “In Fraud We Trust,” the government said.

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Biggest Reverse Mortgage Lender Opens Forward Biz

The country’s largest originator of federally insured reverse mortgages has begun offering traditional mortgages for its mostly older customers. Dozens of hirings are planned.

Last year, American Advisors Group was responsible for a record 12,775 home-equity conversion mortgages that were endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration, according to data from Reverse Market Insight.

That was the most HECMs originated by any FHA mortgagee, more than twice as many as the next-biggest lender, and 22 percent of all HECMs endorsed by FHA during 2017.

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Amazon’s market cap on track to pass Microsoft for first time

Amazon.com Inc.’s stock surged 0.8% in midday trade Wednesday, to lift its market value above Microsoft Corp. for the first time, according to data provided by WSJ Market Data Group. With a market capitalization of $704.38 billion, Amazon is now the third move valuable U.S. company, just above 4th-place Microsoft at $701.91 billion. Next up for Amazon is Google parent Alphabet Inc. , which is second with a $746.90 billion market cap. If Alphabet’s stock remained unchanged, it would take a further 6.0% rally in Amazon’s stock to catch it, according to FactSet data. Amazon is still far from 1st-place Apple Inc. , which is valued at $819.71 billion.

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