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By Farima Alavi

The beginning of college is a bittersweet moment — you’ll miss your family and friends, but the thought of making new friends and embarking on new adventures can be exciting. It’s also the perfect time to express your personality through your new space’s decor. Decorating your dorm room is all about making the most of a small space with smart, multifunctional furniture. This week, we want to know which multipurpose piece you love — a filing cabinet that also serves as an end table or this clever bookshelf room divider?

Vote in our poll below, then tell us which design you chose and why in the comments below.

Take Our Poll

Check back next week to see the final tally.

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From:: HGTV

Yahoo Inc. shares rose 3% Thursday, after Bernstein upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform and said it is priced to fully reflect a worst-case scenario on a number of fronts. “The (almost) worst-case scenario sum-of-the-parts valuation is roughly the current stock price,” analysts wrote in a note. Bernstein is very bullish on Alibaba Group Holding Inc. , in which Yahoo owns a large stake, and has thus far deemed it better to invest in Alibaba directly instead of taking the risk of an indirect investment via Yahoo. However, taking Yahoo’s net cash into account, as well as Alibaba’s current stock price and Yahoo Japan’s current value, and its own below-consensus estimates for Yahoo’s EBITDA, Yahoo looks attractive, said the note. Yahoo shares are down about 30% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained about 1.3%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of boutique investment bank Houlihan Lokey Inc. surged 7% on their first day of trading Thursday, after pricing a dollar below their initial public offering range. Shares climbed to as high as $22.48, compared with their issue price of $21. The Los Angeles-based bank sold 10.5 million shares to raise $220.5 million. Shareholders had planned to sell 13.1 million shares at $22 to $24, earlier regulatory filings showed. A number of recent IPOs, including that of Planet Fitness Inc. last week, have had rocky debuts in volatile markets.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Inventories at U.S. businesses rose 0.8% in June, the largest gain since January 2013, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The gain was higher than the 0.3% gain expected by economists polled by MarketWatch. Business sales were up 0.2% in June. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, rose to 1.37 in June from 1.36 in May. One new piece of information was retail inventories, which rose 0.9% in June compared with a 0.1% drop in sales. Excluding autos, retail inventories rose 0.7%. The inventory-to-sales ratio in retail remained unchanged at 1.27.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Mortgage rates rose for the first time in four weeks, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.94% in the week ending Aug. 13, up from last week when it averaged 3.91%. A year ago, the 30-year averaged 4.12%. The 15-year fixed rose to 3.17% from 3.13%, while the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.93%, down from 2.95%. The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.62%, up from 2.54%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks switched between small gains and losses Thursday in what’s set up to be a choppy trading day after readings on retail sales and jobless claims suggested the U.S. economy is on a healthy footing. The relatively upbeat economic reports put the Federal Reserve on track to possibly raise rates as soon as September as the world’s second-largest economy, China, looks shaky. The S&P 500 was up about a point, or less than 0.1%, at 2,087, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was moving between positive and negative territory and was most recently, down 19 points, or 0.1%, at 17,380. Meanwhile, The Nasdaq Composite Index , was up about about 7 points, or 0.2% at, 5,050.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday that brokerage firm Edward Jones will pay more than $20 million and the former head of its municipal underwriting desk will pay $15,000 to settle charges they overcharged municipal bond customers. Trader Stina R. Wishman, who the SEC alleges took new bonds into Edward Jones’ own inventory and improperly offered them to customers at higher prices, will also be barred from working in the securities industry for at least two years. It’s the SEC’s first case against an underwriter for pricing-related fraud in the primary market for municipal securities. Edward Jones customers paid at least $4.6 million more than they should have for new municipal bonds. The firm was also charged with supervisory failures for because its system was not designed to monitor whether the markups it charged customers for certain trades were reasonable.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of GoPro Inc. climbed 3% in premarket trade Thursday following a bullish note from Cowen & Co, which initiated coverage on the stock with an outperform rating and $76 stock target. Analyst Robert Stone said new software set to be released by the company should cement its ecosystem and make its products easier to use, while content licensing, drones and virtual reality, all new areas of investment for GoPro, help support long-term growth. “We believe VR is an underappreciated driver,” said Stone. Cowen expects GoPro to continue to expand its user base, and estimates that the U.S. will account for just 45% of the global total by 2019. Shares of GoPro were on track to open around $58.61 on Thursday after closing down nearly 4% to $56.91 on Wednesday. They are up more than 14% over the last three months, outperforming the broader S&P 500, down 0.6%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Michael Kors has named Daisuke Yamazaki president in Japan, effective August 10. Yamazaki will replace Toshi Tashiro, who has announced his retirement. Tashiro will stay on through the end of 2015. Yamazaki joins Michael Kors from Roberto Cavalli Japan where he was CEO. Prior to that, he was CEO of the Alexander McQueen Division of Gucci Japan Limited. He also spent 15 years with Girogio Armani Japan. Luxury accessories companies have been under pressure due to the devaluation of the yuan. Michael Kors announced its earnings last week, which beat FactSet consensus estimates, but net profit was still down from the year prior.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stock-index futures moved modestly higher but pared early gains Thursday morning after a pair of readings of retail sales and jobless claims suggested the U.S. economy is on a healthy footing. Now, stock investors must contend with the prospect of a healthy economy that may be sufficient to foster an interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve, and a shaky economy in China. Stock-index futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average had previously jumped by around 36 points, but were up just about 8 points, or less than 0.1%, at 17,373, while those for the S&P 500 were up less than a point, nearly unchanged at 2,084. Nasdaq-100 futures were up 7 points, or 0.2%, at 4,541

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News