Category: Uncategorized

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Thursday against James P. Griffin and James Wolle for violating antifraud and registration provisions of the securities laws related to the sale of fake “charitable gift annuities”. The SEC said the defendants duped investors out of at least $8 million with an idea for a soccer version of the popular “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books and a false relationship with insurer Lloyds of London. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York arrested Griffin on July 24 for criminal charges. Griffin’s wife is also liable for return of investors’ funds, the SEC said.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

By Rachel Jefferson

Las Vegas is not only prosperous in Blackjack and poker tables, but also in growing housing demand and increasing employment. Where annual effective rent growth has more than doubled in the last year, Vegas has a healthy occupancy of 94.4 percent. The city is also successful in its job growth rate, as it is above the national average of 2.1 percent. These facts, stated in a recent infographic by Axiometrics, show that Las Vegas’s healthy rate of employment parallels with a healthy rate of rental demand.

Read the full article on Axiometrics.com.

…read more

From:: Property Management

Natural-gas futures fell further on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of natural gas rose by 52 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 24. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a climb of 53 billion cubic feet to 57 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 2.880 trillion cubic feet, up 586 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 85 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. September natural gas was at $2.792 per million British thermal units, down 7.2 cents, or 2.5%. It was trading at $2.817 before the 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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

By Farima Alavi

You’ve probably seen the amazing makeovers on Property Brothers and Fixer Upper. My personal favorite is when they completely gut a kitchen and transform it into a homeowner’s dream. We want to know your favorite kitchen storage look — do you love Jonathan and Drew Scott’s contemporary, dark wood cabinets or Chip and Joanna Gaines’ industrial-style open shelving design?

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

Take Our Poll

Check back next week to see the final tally.

…read more

From:: HGTV

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 3.98% in the week that ended July 30, falling to the lowest level in almost two months, from the prior week’s reading of 4.04%, according to a Thursday report from federally controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. “Monday’s 8% decline in Chinese stock prices triggered similar – though smaller – sell-offs in global equity markets. The associated flight to quality drove U.S. Treasury yields down nearly 5 basis points,” said Sean Becketti, Freddie’s chief economist. Changes in long-term-mortgage rates closely track movements on the yield for the 10-year Treasury note. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 4.12%. A record low of 3.31% for the 30-year mortgage was reached in November 2012. The average rate for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.17% in the latest week from 3.21% in the prior week. Meanwhile, the rate for a 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage decreased to 2.95% from 2.97%. The rate for a 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM declined to 2.52% 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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Facebook Inc. opened down more than 2% on Thursday despite a wave of stock-target increases at several brokerages following the company’s stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings report. Among the banks raising their price targets were Deutsche Bank, to $115 from $100; Goldman Sachs, to $110 from $102; Raymond James; to $115 from $110; Citigroup, to $112 from $97; Stifel Nicolaus, to $108 from $95; and Barclays, to $105 from $98. The most bullish increase came from Piper Jaffray, which raised its target to $146 from $120. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who now as the highest price target on the stock among a poll of roughly 40 Facebook analysts surveyed by FactSet, said that he continues to be bullish on Facebook’s core properties, like Newsfeed and Instagram, and believes virtual reality will be a stock catalyst through the second-half of 2015 as Facebook gets ready to launch Oculus Rift in the first quarter of 2016. The average 12-month target on the stock is $107.32, according to FactSet. Despite the increases, shares of Facebook opened at $94.91 versus Thursday’s closing price of $96.99. “We would be buyers on any pullback,” Munster said.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower Thursday after a government report showed the economy picked up pace in the second quarter, putting the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates as soon as September. The S&P 500 opened 3 points, or 0.2%, lower at 2,104. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 21 points, or 0.1%, to 17,733. The Nasdaq Composite began the session down 10 points, or 0.2%, at 5,102.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by 12,000 to 267,000 in week ended July 25, the government said Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected claims to increase to 275,000. Despite the increase, claims remain near the lowest level in decades, indicating the labor market is still on an upswing. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, fell by 3,750 to seasonally adjusted 274,750, the Labor Department said. The four-week average smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly report and is seen as a more accurate predictor of labor-market trends. Continuing jobless claims rose 46,000 to 2.26 million in the week ended July 18. These claims reflect people already receiving unemployment checks.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – New methods in how the government calculates gross domestic product show the U.S. economy actually grew 0.6% in the first quarter instead of contracting by 0.2%. The new approach has been incorporated going back to 2012 to correct for flaws in how the government accounts for some categories such as military outlays and spending on consumer services. Yet U.S. growth from 2012 to 2014 was reduced to an annual average of 2% instead of 2.3% as reported under the old method for calculating GDP. Growth for 2014 was unchanged at 2.4%, but 2013 was chopped to 1.5% from 2.2% and 2013 GDP was trimmed to 2.2% from 2.3%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. economy picked up modestly in the spring after a lackluster start to the year, expanding at an annual 2.3% rate in the second quarter. Growth was led by consumer spending on big-ticket items such as new cars as well as home construction, the government said Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a seasonally adjusted 2.8% gain. Consumer spending, the main engine of U.S. growth, rose 2.9%. Business investment minus housing dipped 0.6%. Home construction outlays rose 6.6%. The value of inventories fell slightly to $110 billion from $112.8 billion. Exports rose 5.3% while imports increased 3.5%. Inflation as measured by the PCE price index increased at a 2.2% annual rate after declining by a 1.9% pace in the first quarter. Excluding food and energy, core PCE rose to a 1.8% annual pace from 1% in the first three months of the year. In the first quarter, GDP was revised up to show a 0.6% gain instead of a 0.2% contraction, based on new methodology meant to make the report more accurate.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News