Mortgage Rates Rise, More Increases Ahead

Weekly rates on single-family loans moved higher, and it was a similar story for monthly rates. Forecasts call for further ascension in the upcoming week and year.

On conforming fixed-rate loans to finance a home purchase, LendingTree said its network of lenders offered annual percentage rates that averaged 4.42 percent in December 2017.

In addition to increasing 12 basis points from the preceding month, average 30-year fixed-rate APRs climbed to the highest level since July 2016.


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From:: Financing

AMD shares slide as chip maker admits greater Spectre vulnerability

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. admitted late Thursday that its exposure to the Spectre chip vulnerability is wider than first thought. AMD shares fell 3.1% to $11.76 after hours. AMD said in a statement it defined additional steps “through a combination of processor microcode updates and OS patches that we will make available” to Ryzen and EPYC customers starting this week. Last week, AMD said there was a near zero risk of its chips being susceptible to the so-called Spectre chip exploit.

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

Finisar CEO Jerry Rawls to retire, company appoints Michael Hurlston new CEO

Finisar Corp. said late Thursday co-founder and Chief Executive Jerry Rawls has retired, and that Michael Hurlston, a former Broadcom executive, has been appointed CEO and a director, effectively immediately. Hurlston and Rawls “will work together to ensure a smooth transition,” and Rawls will continue to serve as a director, the company said in a statement. Shares of Finisar rose 2% in late trading after ending the regular session up 2.4%.

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

IBM installs new CFO

International Business Machines Corp. said late Thursday that it has installed James Kavanaugh as chief financial officer, and former CFO Martin Schroeter will take a new role as senior vice president of global markets. Kavanaugh was senior vice president, finance and operations, the company said. IBM has not yet made any decisions about the executives’ compensation. Both executives will participate in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Jan. 18. IBM stock is down a fraction to $164.04 after hours. Over the past 12 months IBM stock has lost 2%, as the S&P 500 index rose 21%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which IBM is a component, has gained 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

Apple, HP lead PC shipment growth in fourth quarter

PC makers saw their first holiday quarter rise in shipments in six years, according to the International Data Corp. on Thursday. Fourth-quarter shipments rose 0.7% to 70.58 million units, with the largest gains at HP Inc. with a 8.3% rise, and Apple Inc. , with a 7.3% rise. For the year, however, PC shipments declined 0.2% to 259.53 million units, but HP and Apple led gainers. Gartner, however, showed slightly different numbers with PC shipments declining 2% to 71.56 million units for the fourth quarter, and falling 2.8% to 262.54 million units for the year. HP and Apple also led PC shipment growth for the fourth quarter and the year in the Gartner data.

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

In 2017, Multiple Offers Scored Sellers Thousands

By Susanne Dwyer

Zillow_List_Price

Did you buy a home last year? Did you make an above-asking bid?

Approximately 24 percent of for-sale homes in 2017 sold for higher than what they were listed for, according to an analysis recently released by Zillow. Five years ago, that figure was roughly 17 percent.

The average gain for sellers? $7,000.

“In the face of historically tight inventory, buyers have had to be more aggressive in their offers,” says Aaron Terrazas, senior economist at Zillow. “We don’t expect this inventory crunch to ease meaningfully in 2018, meaning buyers will be facing many of the same struggles this year.”

The average is close to 10 times higher in San Jose, Calif., where bids bumped the price up by $62,000—the biggest gap between list and sold price. In San Jose, the drive-up is the new normal: 68.5 percent of for-sale homes sold for higher than what they were listed for last year. Similar scenarios are playing out in San Francisco and Seattle.

“Low interest rates and strong labor markets with high-paying jobs have allowed homebuyers in some of the country’s priciest housing markets to bid well over asking price,” Terrazas says. “In the booming tech capitals of the California Bay Area and Pacific Northwest, paying above list price is now the norm.”

For more information, please visit www.zillow.com.

Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia’s online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com. For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

The post In 2017, Multiple Offers Scored Sellers Thousands appeared first on RISMedia.

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From:: Real Estate News

Stocks end at records, driven by rally in energy shares

U.S. stock-market indexes closed at records on Thursday, driven by a rally in energy and materials sectors, which followed rising oil prices higher. The rally comes a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq suffered the first down day of the year on anxieties about appetite for Treasurys from the world’s second-largest economy, China. The S&P 500 gained 19.33 points, or 0.7%, to 2,767.56. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index advanced by 58.21 points, or 0.8%, to 7,211.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 205.60 points, or 0.8%, to 25,574.73. Among the best performers on Wall Street, shares of Xerox rose 5.2%, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is in talks to potentially do a major deal with Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp.

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From:: Stock Market News

Group of senators say they have reached an agreement on immigration

Six senators — Republicans Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Cory Gardner, and Democrats Dick Durbin, Michael Bennet and Robert Menendez — said they have reached an agreement on immigration that, they say, addresses border security, the diversity visa lottery, chain migration/family renunification and the Dream Act. The senators say they are working to build support for that deal in Congress.

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From:: Stock Market News

NBC expects to garner $1.4 billion in ad revenue from Super Bowl, Winter Olympics

Comcast Corp. expects NBC’s advertising revenue for Super Bowl LII to be as much as $500 million. Shares of Comcast were up more than 3% during intraday trade on Thursday. NBC’s head of ad sales, Dan Lovinger, told reporters during a conference call on Thursday that NBC is taking in $5 million per 30-second ad spot during the Super Bowl on Feb. 4, and that a handful of open spots remain, according to media reports. Lovinger said the network expects it to set the single-day record for advertising generated by a single media company. The Super Bowl telecast will be followed by a special broadcast of one of TV’s most popular shows, “This Is Us,” which is expected to have added to demand. Lovinger also said the network is expecting to bring in roughly $900 million in ad revenue from the upcoming Winter Olympics, which would put the total ad revenue for both events at $1.4 billion. Comcast shares have gained more than 18% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 21% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 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

Oil prices up a fourth session; natural-gas futures at 6-week high

Oil prices settled higher Thursday for a fourth session in a row. Prices got a boost as recent data showed U.S. crude supplies falling for eight straight weeks. Traders awaited the Trump administration’s decision on whether to extend temporary waivers on sanctions against Iran. February West Texas Intermediate crude rose 23 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $63.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest finish since Dec. 9, according to FactSet data. Natural-gas futures, meanwhile, rose to a six-week high after a record weekly drop in U.S. supplies of the commodity. February natural gas rose 17.8 cents, or 6.1%, to settle at $3.084 per million British thermal units.

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