Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
Two top industry leaders were added to the list of panelists for an upcoming event from the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families. The event, which will take place in Detroit in November, examines themes such as solving the rental affordability crisis, the future of housing finance and others. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
The monthly number of government-sponsored enterprise mortgages refinanced tumbled to a two-year low. Government-supported refinances plunged to an all-time low.
During July, 109,199 loans that are either guaranteed or owned by the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were refinanced.
That was the slowest month since May 2014, when primary home lenders refinanced 107,320 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans.
From:: Financing
SoFi stepped up to defend itself amid recent negative news coverage on the company’s alleged toxic workplace environment. Included in one publication’s coverage of the fintech company is a bold claim that “in the first round of SoFi mortgages, some homes lacked appraisals.” SoFi, however, in a response to HousingWire, gave this response to that bold claim. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
The Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges against the investment services subsidiary of SunTrust Banks [s:sti] on Thursday for charging clients more than $1.1 million in excessive fees for more expensive shares mutual funds when cheaper shares of the same funds were available. SunTrust breached its fiduciary duty to act in clients’ best interests by recommending the costlier mutual fund share classes that charge 12b-1 fees, a type of marketing and distribution fee, without telling investors that they were eligible for less costly shares. SunTrust Investment Services agreed, without admitting or denying the findings, to pay a penalty of more than $1.1 million to settle the charges. SunTrust also began refunding the overcharged fees plus interest to more than 4,500 affected clients as a result of the SEC investigation. The firm also agreed to be censured.
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From:: Stock Market News
Shares of Blue Apron Holdings Inc. ran up 4.5% in morning trade Thursday, after Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Graham said recent management commentary reinforces his view that current headwinds are “decidedly temporary.” The stock has now retraced nearly half what it lost after reporting on Aug. 10 a wider-than-expected loss in its first quarterly report since going public. In an interview at this year’s Code Commerce conference, Graham said Salzberg outlined the meal-kit delivery company’s long-term opportunity, said the company can coexist with Amazon.com Inc. and that it was working through the troubles it had with the rollout of a new fulfillment center that affected the latest quarter’s results. “We continue to view the current headwinds as decidedly temporary, and managements’ recent commentary reinforces our view that the company is working through issues at a good pace and can largely complete the transition by the end of the year,” Graham wrote in a note to clients. He reiterated his buy rating and $11 stock price target, which was 95% above current levels. The stock has shed 44% since it closed at its IPO price of $10 on its first day of trade on June 29, compared with a 3.2% gain in the S&P 500 over the same time.
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From:: Stock Market News
Traders on Thursday wagered a December rate hike was more likely than not for the first time since mid-July, ahead of a key Federal Reserve policy meeting next week. The fed fund futures market showed market participants were estimating a 50.9% chance of a quarter basis-point rate increase in December. This comes after a stronger-than-expected inflation reading on Thursday offered one of the more substantial signs that a recent string of weak inflation data was only “transitory,” reinforcing the Fed’s argument for normalizing interest rates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported inflation in August had rose 0.4%, pushing its yearly rate higher to 1.9%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 91 billion cubic feet for the week ended Sept. 8. That was just above the average forecast for a climb of 88 billion cubic feet by analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.311 trillion cubic feet, down 179 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 43 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. October natural gas was up 1.9 cents, 0.6%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $3.077 per million British thermal units. It traded at $3.053 before the data.
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From:: Stock Market News
Shares of William Lyon Homes tumbled 5.8% in morning trade Thursday, after filings showed that the homebuilder’s second-largest shareholder, billionaire investor John Paulson’s hedge fund Paulson & Co., was selling off its entire holding of Class A shares. William Lyon filed late Wednesday to say Paulson planned to offer 3,322,666 shares for sale. Early Thursday, the company said the offering had priced, and that it was expected to close on our about Sept. 18. On Oct. 12, 2012, Paulson & Co. was issued 15.24 million Class A shares for $16.0 million, or at $1.05 a share. A May 2013 share offering, priced at $25 a share, left Paulson with about 3.3 million Class A shares, filings show. The stock closed Wednesday at $24.79. So, did Paulson & Co. pocket a total of over $440 million dollars on a $16 million investment made about 5 years ago? The hedge fund declined to comment. William Lyon’s stock has now gained 2.0% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Homebuilder ETF has slipped 0.3% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.4%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Mortgage rates held steady from last week as the 30- and 15-year mortgage interest rates remained the same. However, Freddie Mac expects they could soon begin increasing once again, following the 10-year Treasury yield which jumped a full 11 basis points. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Shares of Equifax Inc. extended their plunge Thursday, falling another 8.9% in morning trade to a 2 1/2-year low, and have now lost more than one-third of their value since the credit-reporting company unveiled a massive data breach. With 120.37 million shares outstanding as of July 13, the $52.57 decline in the past week has wiped out $6.33 billion in market capitalization. Analyst Andrew Steinerman at J.P. Morgan slashed his stock price target to $135, which is about 50% above current levels, from $167, while reiterating his overweight rating. He said that after a meeting with management, the full impacts of the data breach are still uncertain. “However, some key points were clarified and we now feel better positioned to assess the near term drag (we estimate a 10% EPS drag in 2018), even as we acknowledge that facts are still emerging. The stock, which hit a 2 1/2-year low in intraday trade, has now lost 24% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 11%.
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From:: Stock Market News