Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is finally changing the requirements around its reverse mortgage program, announcing plans on Tuesday to raise premiums and place tighter loan limits. The Trump administration is making the changes to put the program, which is backstopped by taxpayers, on stronger financial footing. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Shares of Apple Inc. were up 1% Tuesday afternoon after the stock reached a record intraday high of $162.96. Those gains came a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple would host a product launch event on Sept. 12. Apple has not yet released an official event date, but the WSJ report was based on sources familiar with the matter. At the event, Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone that some analysts see ushering in a super cycle for the company. Tuesday’s intraday high topped its previous record of $162.51, reached on August 16. Shares of Apple have gained 8.6% in the past month, while the S&P 500 has lost 1%.
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.
From:: Stock Market News
HCA Healthcare Inc. , which has 10 Houston-area hospitals, safely evacuated nearly 130 patients on Sunday from a hospital in Pasadena, Texas in the only Houston-area closure HCA has had so far, according to Mizuho analyst Sheryl Skolnick. HCA “has had one of the best hurricane/disaster response systems in the industry: this early evacuation was done before things became really bad for the Houston area,” Skolnick said, adding that she expects a “modest impact on results as recovery there will take time,” with HCA having nearly $2.3 billion in revenue in Houston as of 2016. The hurricane’s impact on results likely won’t affect the company’s stock “so long as the issues do not result in the kind of patient care issues we saw with Katrina,” Skolnick said. “With the proper evacuation protocols in place we do not expect that kind of situation to develop in Houston for HCA, even if it takes weeks to get the hospitals back on track for normal levels of volume and activity.” HCA shares declined 0.4% in Monday trade and 2.2% in heavy trade on Tuesday. Shares have dropped 6.4% over the last three months, compared with a 1.1% rise in the S&P 500 .
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.
From:: Stock Market News
A coalition of the housing industry’s largest trade groups want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to look beyond FICO and begin using alternative credit scoring models. In a letter sent last week to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, the groups express their disappointment in Watt, who recently threw cold water on the idea that Fannie and Freddie would begin using alternative credit scoring models at any point in the next two years. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading tepidly higher on Tuesday afternoon, with shares of Boeing Co., Caterpillar Inc., and United Technologies Corp., helping the blue-chip gauge stage a modest rally from a triple-digit loss stoked by political tensions. United Tech , Caterpillar and Boeing shares were giving the price-weighted Dow a 35-point boost. However, slides in shares of Nike Inc. and home-improvement giant Home Depot Inc. were offsetting some of those gains in midday trade. The Dow most recently was advancing 14 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,823, after being down by as much as 135 points or 0.6%, at 21,673, as the market was rattled after the latest offensive from North Korea. Pyongyang late Monday delivered its most provocative ballistic-missile launch in years, flying at least one missile over Japanese airspace and drawing widespread and swift rebukes from the U.S. and its Asian neighbors. Overall, the markets were off their worst levels, with the S&P 500 index down less than 2 points, or less than 0.1%, at 2,442, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was 0.2% higher at 6,293.
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.
From:: Stock Market News
Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares surged 6.8% in extremely heavy midday trade on Tuesday on news that the Food and Drug Administration won’t let Acorda Therapeutics Inc. file for approval of its Parkinson’s disease treatment. Adamas had its own Parkinson’s disease drug approved last week. Acorda shares plummeted 25.4% in extremely heavy midday trade Tuesday. Both companies’ products have effects during OFF periods when a Parkinson’s patient’s medication isn’t working and are intended for patients on a levodopa regimen. Acorda shares have surged 24.4% over the last three months and Adamas shares have surged 37.6%, compared with a 1.1% rise in the S&P 500 .
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.
From:: Stock Market News
All around the mortgage industry, primary and secondary lenders are coming to the aid of borrowers impacted by the severe devastation from Hurricane Harvey.
Images of people wading and boating through the flooded streets of Houston — the nation’s fourth-largest city — have dominated the news cycle since Harvey made landfall on Friday as a Category 4 hurricane.
So far, death toll estimates are as high as 15 people as a result of the hurricane. Rainfall from Harvey, which has stalled over the Houston area, can be measured in feet. The Los Angeles Times reports that around 30,000 people are in shelters.
From:: Financing
21st Century Fox Inc. on Tuesday said it’s decided to stop broadcasting its cable news channel Fox News in the U.K. The company said that after 15 years of airing a feed of the channel on a network owned by European broadcaster Sky PLC , the service wasn’t making money for the company. “[21st Century Fox] has decided to cease providing a feed of Fox News Channel in the U.K.,” the company wrote in a statement. “Fox News is focused on the U.S. market and is designed for a U.S. audience and, accordingly, it averages only a few thousand viewers across the day in the U.K. We have concluded that it is not in our commercial interest to continue providing Fox News in the U.K.” Fox News-parent 21st Century Fox and MarketWatch-parent News Corp. share common ownership. The decision to remove the channel in the UK comes as Fox awaits a regulatory decision on its $15 billion takeover bid for the 61% of Sky it doesn’t own. Sources reportedly told the newspaper the Guardian that the Fox News termination was not related to the regulatory matter. Shares of Fox have declined about 3% in 2017, while the S&P 500 index is up 9%.
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.
From:: Stock Market News
Consumer confidence increased once again in August as Americans place more faith in the current economic state. In fact, the Present Situation Index from The Conference Board remains at its 16-year high, even as expectations for the future grew slightly. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Shares of AmTrust Financial Services Inc. slid 4% Tuesday, after The Wall Street Journal reported that critics of the company, which is being probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission , have been approached by people describing themselves as overseas consultants who offer money but later turn out to have been lying about who they are. One analyst at a research firm that has reported on the insurer was approached by a woman who claimed to be a London-based consultant to a European software millionaire, who then plied him with drinks and questioned him about AmTrust and its accounting, the paper reported. Other critics of the company, including reporters and short sellers, recounted similar tales. The SEC is investigating AmTrust’s accounting practices. Shares are down 53% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained about 9%.
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.
From:: Stock Market News