Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
Although monthly government-insured reverse mortgage volume inched up last month, originations in the sector remain low by historical standards.
Home-equity conversion mortgages that were endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration numbered 3,771 during the month of June.
Activity was modestly higher than during the previous month, when FHA endorsed 3,646 HECMs — the fewest endorsements since August 2014.
From:: Financing
Shares of National Interstate Corp. surged 3.7% in premarket trade Wednesday, after American Financial Group Inc. raised its buyout bid for the Ohio-based insurance holding company by 6.7% to $32 a share. The previous bid of $30 a share was announced on March 7. American Financial said the new bid represents its “best and final offer,” and that it remains confident that a special committee formed to review the bid will approve a deal. Based on National Interstate’s 19.93 million shares outstanding, according to FactSet, the new bid would value the insurer at about $637.8 million. National Interstate’s stock hasn’t traded as high as $32 since July 30, 2013. It had run up 13% year to date through Tuesday, while American Financial shares had ticked up 0.1% and the S&P 500 had gained 2.2%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Applications for residential loans turned sharply higher this past week thanks to Brexit, and ongoing falling rates could mean further improvement ahead.
The Market Composite Index climbed a seasonally adjusted 14 percent in the week ended on July 1 compared to the report issued seven days earlier.
Without any seasonal adjustments, the index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — was still down 14 percent from the week ended June 24.
From:: Financing
Netflix Inc. shares slid more than 3.1% in premarket trade after analysts at Jefferies downgraded the stock to underperform from hold. Lead analyst John Janedis wrote in a note to clients he worries Netflix’s slowing U.S. market will put pressure on the stock’s multiple. “Although [Netflix’s] runway will span multiple years, our research suggests the domestic subscriber growth trajectory may be somewhat flatter than the market’s current expectations,” Janedis wrote. Netflix’s first mover advantage is now eroding with the growth of platforms such as Amazon Inc.’s Prime Instant Video and Hulu — a joint venture by Walt Disney Co. , 21st Century Fox Inc. and Comcast Corp. . Netflix has been investing large sums in its international business, but Janedis views growth in merging markets as more challenging than expected due to established players and cultural and language barriers. “Overall we believe that subscriber growth and free cash flow generation over the long-term will grow more slowly than the consensus view as [Netflix] acquires more expensive global rights to content, in addition to investing significantly in original programming,” he wrote. Shares of Netflix are down 14.4% in the year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 Index, which is up 2.2%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. dropped 1.7% in premarket trade Wednesday, after RBC Capital turned bearish on the beer and beverage giant, citing concerns over the SABMiller PLC acquisition. Analyst James Edwardes Jones cut his rating to underperform from sector perform. Jones said he believes Anheuser-Busch will deliver on the synergies it has targeted from the SABMiller deal, and more, but he expects all the benefits will be realized by SABMiller’s shareholders, not Anheuser-Busch’s. “Thus while we expect it to do its normal awesome job in extracting synergies from SABMiller, we do not expect significant margin accretion over and above that, as we don’t believe [Anheuser-Busch’s] competitive position will have been materially enhanced,” Jones wrote in a note to clients. “We believe those ‘normal’ synergies are fully anticipated by investors.” The stock has gained 2.9% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has advanced 2.2%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. reported Wednesday fiscal third-quarter earnings that declined to $1.1 billion, or $1.01 a share, from $1.3 billion, or $1.18 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, earnings per share increased 16% to $1.18, beating the FactSet consensus of $1.14. Revenue rose 2.4% to $29.5 billion from $28.8 billion, but fell shy of the FactSet consensus of $29.7 billion, as 3.7% growth in domestic retail pharmacy sales helped offset a 2.3% decline in international sales. Looking ahead, the drug store chain, which is in the process of acquiring Rite Aid Corp. , raised its EPS outlook to a range of $3.45 to $3.55 from $3.35 to $3.55. The company said it still expects the Rite Aid deal to close in the second half of 2016. “We delivered solid results in the quarter while continuing to make progress in several key areas, including our work to develop long-term strategic relationships and pursue partnership opportunities,” said Chief Executive Stefano Pessina. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has lost 1.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.2%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Barcelona FC and Argentina striker Lionel Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax evasion, but he is unlikely to spend any time behind bars, according to media reports. His father, Jorge Messi, was also sentenced to 21 months of prison time for defrauding Spain 4.1 million euros ($4.54 million) in taxes between 2007 and 2009. However, under Spanish law any sentence under two years can be served under probation, so the Barcelona player is unlikely to go to prison, according to the reports. Messi said during the trial he “knew nothing” about his tax affairs and was just “playing football”.
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From:: Stock Market News
Brexit’s impact on mortgage applications is here, and it looks like borrowers cashed in on the ultra-low interest rates. Last week’s applications didn’t show any signs of Brexit given the delay in impact from U.S. Treasury yields effect on interest rates. That all changed with the latest round of apps news. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Sweden’s central bank on Wednesday kept its key interest rate at negative 0.5% and said the uncertainty over the U.K.’s Brexit has delayed future rate hikes. The Riksbank said in a statement that the Swedish economy continues to strengthen, but that there is “considerable” uncertainty” over developments abroad. This uncertainty has increased as a result of the U.K. decision last month to leave the European Union, the bank said. “A highly expansionary monetary policy is needed to provide support to the Swedish economy and rising inflation,” the bank said. “There is still a high level of preparedness to make monetary policy more expansionary if this is needed to safeguard the inflation target.” The Riksbank said government-bond purchases will continue during the second half of 2016, as was decided in April. The Swedish krona rose after the announcement, with the dollar buying 8.5085 kronor, compared with 8.5254 late Tuesday in New York.
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From:: Stock Market News
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to the lowest level on record — likely driving down fixed interest rates on home loans near their all-time lows.
Global uncertainty over Great Britain’s recent vote to depart from the European Union dragged down stock prices, oil prices and bond yields Tuesday.
Data from the Department of the Treasury indicate that the yield on the 10-year Treasury note plummeted to 1.37 percent as of today’s market close.
From:: Financing