Category: Uncategorized

By James Aldridge

Foreclosure rates in the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area decreased in the month of May, compared to the same period last year, according to a new report from CoreLogic.

The report shows that 0.61 percent of all outstanding mortgage loans in the metro area were in some stage of foreclosure for May. This is down from 0.71 percent of all outstanding mortgage loans in May 2014. This compares to a national foreclosure rate of 1.29 percent for May 2015.

In the San Antonio-New Braunfels area,… …read more

From:: biz journal foreclosures

The number of connected devices as part of the burgeoning industry known as the Internet of Things is expected to skyrocket 285% over the next five years, reaching 38.5 billion devices by 2020 from just 10 billion today, according to a new report from Juniper Research. The increase is expected to be led by the industrial and public service sectors, such as utilities and smart cities, and less by applications in the smart home, according to the report. A number of companies, including Michelin and John Deere, have already transitioned their businesses toward being service oriented through the use of the Internet of Things, according to Juniper. Other publicly-traded companies, including Google Inc. , IBM and Verizon Communications , have also started to adapt IoT for public-service and industrial applications.

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) — U.S. house prices rose 1.1% in May, supported by the spring sales market, with gains in all the cities tracked by the Case-Shiller 20-city composite index released Tuesday. After seasonal adjustment, prices declined 0.2%, the report said. Home prices in May were up 4.9% from a year earlier, slightly slower than April’s annual growth of 5%. “Nationally, single-family-home price increases have settled into a steady 4%-5% annual pace following the double-digit bubbly pattern of 2013,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. Denver saw the fastest year-over-year home-price growth in May, hitting 10%. Meanwhile, the slowest annual growth was in Washington, where prices rose 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

BlackBerry Ltd. was upgraded to equal-weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley on Tuesday under the premise that cash flexibility and cost-cutting initiatives will drive stock-price value in the near term. However, the bank maintained its 12-month price target of $7, saying there is still no evidence of a “fundamental business turnaround.” Shares of BlackBerry were up 1.9% to $7.42 in premarket trade. Morgan Stanley estimates that BlackBerry’s cash balance is worth roughly $3.50 to $3.75 a share, or more than half its current share-price value. The company has been moving more into software and focusing less on its legacy smartphone business amid intense competition from much larger smartphone rivals, particularly Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. . BlackBerry has been on quite the losing streak, having missed quarterly sales expectations in 19 of the last 22 quarters, dating back to the fourth quarter of 2010.

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

Baidu Inc.’s stock plunged 13% in premarket trade Tuesday, putting it on track to open at a 13-month low, after the Chinese Internet company’s disappointing second-quarter results and outlook prompted a downgrade by Pacific Crest. Analyst Cheng Cheng cut his rating to sector weight, after being at overweight for at least 2 1/2 years. He believes a fair value for the stock is $175, or 11% below Monday’s closing price of $197.68. Cheng believes Baidu’s online-to-offline (O2O) initiative could eventually boost monetization efforts, but for now, it is creating higher spending and could hurt revenue growth. “These headwinds may last for years and create a ‘valley’ in earnings growth,” Cheng wrote in a note to clients. He also believes greater competition greatly increases risk for Baidu as the company shifts some of its user base from search to O2O.

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

Supervalu Inc. announced Tuesday that it is considering a separation of its Save-A-Lot business and is preparing to spin if off as its own publicly traded company. Save-A-Lot has more than 1,300 stores and “significant growth potential,” according to Supervalu CEO Sam Duncan. Supervalu has hired Barclays and Grenhill to serve as financial advisors. The company did not set a specific timetable for when this may happen.

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

Analysts at Jefferies initiated coverage of PayPal Holdings Inc. on Tuesday with a buy rating and a $44 price target, 20% above its current price of $36.39 per share. Jefferies analyst Jason Kupferberg cited PayPal’s high growth, secular tailwinds, its global brand and large market cap as reasons for the buy rating. PayPal’s direct relationship with its nearly 10 million merchants and 169 million consumers are positives, he said. Kupferberg did, however, note that PayPal has much work to do in the in-store payments market. He said Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay may become a competitive threat over time, but is not a treat in the near-term.

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

JetBlue Airways Corp. said it had net income of $152 million, or 44 cents a share, in the second quarter, down from $230 million, or 68 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue climbed to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion. The figures matched the FactSet consensus on both counts. Revenue passenger miles rose 8.7% to 10.6 billion, as capacity increased 8.5%, yielding a second-quarter load factor of 85.6%, or 1 point above the year-earlier period. Costs per available seat mile (CASM) fell 8.6% to 10.86 cents, but were up 0.6% excluding fuel and profit sharing. The company is expecting CASM excluding fuel and profit sharing to rise 1% to 3% in the third quarter and 1.5% for the full year. Capacity is expected to increase by 8.5% to 10.5% in the third quarter, and by 7% to 9% for the full year. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 41% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.4%.

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

Merck & Co. reported a second-quarter net profit that fell to $687 million, or 24 cents a share, from $2 billion, or 68 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as costs related to acquistions and divestitures, adjusted earnings per share came in at 86 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of 81 cents. Revenue fell 11% to $9.79 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $9.81 billion, with currency movements reducing revenue by 7 percentage points. Pharmaceutical sales fell 6%, but increased 3% excluding the effect of currency translation, helped by strength in Merck’s hospital acute care, oncology and diabetes businesses. For the full-year 2015, Merck raised its adjusted EPS outlook to a range of $3.45 to $3.55 from $3.35 to $3.48, according to FactSet. “We’re investing resources to grow our strongest brands and to support the most promising assets in our pipeline, while at the same time lowering our cost base and delivering operating leverage,” said Chief Executive Kenneth Frazier. The stock, which was indicated up nearly 3% in premarket trade, has lost 5% over the past three months while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 3.7%.

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

Pfizer Inc. shares rose 1.1% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the drugs giant reported better-than-expected second-quarter profit and revenue and raised the midpoint of its revenue and adjusted earnings outlook. Pfizer said it had net income of $2.6 billion, or 42 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $2.9 billion, or 45 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 56 cents, ahead of the 52 cents FactSet consensus. Revenue edged down to $11.9 billion from $12.8 billion, also ahead of the FactSet consensus of $11.4 billion. “We were able to grow revenues by 1% excluding the impact of foreign exchange, marking the third consecutive quarter of operational revenue growth, despite the continued significant negative impact from product losses of exclusivity, primarily Celebrex and Zyvox in the U.S. and Lyrica in certain developed Europe markets,” Chief Financial Officer Frank D’Amelio said in a statement. The company raised the midpoint of its 2015 revenue outlook by $500 million, and the midpoint of its adjusted EPS outlook by 4 cents. Shares are up 10% in the year so far, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has shed 2%.

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