Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
For the second week in a row, an increase in mortgage refinance applications was more than offset by a decrease in applications for loans to finance a home purchase.
A seasonally adjusted less than 1 percent drop from a week prior was recorded for new mortgage applications based on the Market Composite Index.
The week-over-week decline increased to 2 percent when no seasonal adjustments are made to the index, a measure of residential retail loan application volume.
From:: Financing
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday was on pace to mark its longest streak without a gain of at least 1% in more than a decade, according to WSJ Market Data Group. The Dow hasn’t posted a rise of at least 1% since April 25, when it rallied 232 points or 1.1%. If it fails to do so on Wednesday, it would mark 84 trading days without such an advance, the longest since an 102-session streak ended March 2007. The Dow narrowly missed a 1% gain in Tuesday’s nearly 200-point rally–its best one-day gain in four months, but a failure to do so matched the 83-session streak without a 1% climb ended August 2014. Overall, Wall Street stocks were retreating as investors fret that comments made by President Donald Trump at a rally of supporters late Tuesday in Phoenix suggest that he is willing to let a looming government shutdown happen in autumn. In most recent trade, the Dow was off 0.2% at 21,864, the S&P 500 index was off 0.2% at 2,448, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was trading 0.1% lower at 6,288. All three benchmarks were off their worst levels of the session.
–Ken Jimenez contributed to this report
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From:: Stock Market News
Accelerated Pharma, Inc. a drug development company, has requested to withdraw its initial public offering, according to a filing Wednesday. In the letter, the company states that it “has decided not to proceed” with an IPO. Accelerated Pharma had planned to sell 1.5 million units, with each unit consisting of a share of common stock and two Series A warrants, with an offering price between $4 and $6 a share. It had applied to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
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From:: Stock Market News
Lowe’s Cos. [s:LOW] on Wednesday reported earnings that missed expectations and guided lower, sending the stock down nearly 6% in midday trading. Analysts at Credit Suisse called the earnings news “not a clean quarter,” but pointed out what they called “some bright spots” for Lowe’s in a morning note. The home-improvement retailer had stronger comparables, Credit Suisse wrote, and sales even accelerated in July. The Credit Suisse analysts, who have an outperform rating on the stock, said a calendar quirk may have depressed growth in earnings per share, which were reported as 14%. The company’s lowered guidance reflects higher expenses, since sales are projected to stay the same, the analysts said. They also noted that Lowe’s is closing in on rival Home Depot [s:HD] in terms of comparable sales. Their $94 price target for Lowe’s implies a 32% increase and is a bit higher than the FactSet consensus target price of $89.12. The mean rating among analysts surveyed by FactSet is overweight.
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Stryker Corp. said early Wednesday that it has issued a voluntary recall for specific lots of Oral Care products and that it placed a temporary ship hold on cloth-based products, which make up about half of Stryker’s Sage Products’ revenue, until they are tested. The Food and Drug Administration previously warned the company about these two issues in a July letter. The company now expects full year adjusted earnings to be at the lower end of its previously stated range of $6.45 to $6.55 and third quarter adjusted earnings to be at the lower end of a previously stated $1.50 to $1.55 range. The stock dropped 4.2% in extremely heavy midday trade Wednesday. The voluntary recall involves certain lots of Oral Care products sold through Stryker’s Sage Products business unit that were manufactured by a third-party supplier and distributed between July 2015 and August 2017. Stryker said there was a possibility of cross-contamination due to equipment that manufactured Oral Care products being shared with non-pharmaceutical products. Stryker said there have been some reports of minor irritation and allergic reaction but that the company has not been told of any serious safety issues. The company has stopped doing business with the third-party supplier, is now manufacturing Oral Care products in house and expects to continue shipping the products in September. Stryker is also placing a temporary ship hold on cloth-based products and expects to begin shipping again in September. The FDA said in its July letter that it had concerns about microbiological testing methods for all products containing solutions sold by Sage, including the recalled Oral Care products and solutions in cloth-based products; the regulator said they should be tested using a different method that takes a longer time to do, which accounts for Stryker’s temporary ship hold. Stryker shares have surged 16.4% year-to-date to $139.40, compared with a 9.4% rise in the S&P 500 .
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From:: Stock Market News
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday was giving up some of its hard-fought gains from the previous session, as shares of Home Depot and Boeing helped to yank blue chips lower. Shares of home-improvement giant Home Depot Inc. and plane maker Boeing Co. were slicing more than 25 points from the price-weighted benchmark, representing the biggest drag among the Dow’s components. Home Depot’s shares were off about $2.22 or 1.5%, while Boeing’s stock was down about $1.65 or 0.7%. The Dow was down 60 points at 21,839, most recently. A $1 move in any of the Dow’s components is equal to a 6.84-point swing in the gauge. Overall, the market was drifting lower, albeit off its worst levels of the session, as investors fretted about the threat of a government shutdown following remarks made by President Donald Trump at a campaign-style rally of his supporters in Phoenix. The Dow is in jeopardy of halting a two-session climb, with the S&P 500 index down 0.3% at 2,446 and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.4% at 6,275. All three benchmarks enjoyed their best daily gains in months on Tuesday.
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From:: Stock Market News
Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it will review the U.S. debt rating if the debt ceiling is not raised, as it reiterated that prioritizing payments may not be compatible with a Triple-A rating. Prioritizing payments is an idea some Republicans have advanced if the U.S. were not to raise the debt ceiling in time. Fitch added that a government shutdown would not have a direct impact on the AAA rating but would “highlight how political divisions pose challenges to the budgetary process.”
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Sales of Apple’s iPhones appear to have been “resilient” and sell through share appears steady last month, even as many consumers seem to be waiting for the new iPhone release in September, Canaccord Genuity analysts said Wednesday. They estimate that Apple Inc. brought in 64% of industry profits in July, helped by carrier promotions, but down from 84% in its March quarter. Apple’s sales took a hit from Samsung’s launch of the Galaxy S8 phone and steady results from Chinese phone companies. However, they see Apple’s new cycle of iPhones in September bringing Apple to 46.5 million iPhone units sold and leading Apple to increase its market share in calendar year 2018. In addition to strong sales of Apple’s iPhone 8, they expect strong sales of 7S Plus models. They maintained a buy rating and $180 price target. Shares of Apple have gained 6.4% in the past month, while the S&P 500 has lost 1%.
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From:: Stock Market News
A trio of senior executives at a New York mortgage banking firm have been arrested for allegedly defrauding warehouse lenders.
Matthew T. Voss, 42, was chief operating officer of Vanguard Funding LLC during the period from August 2016 through March 2017.
Also on the senior management team of the Long Island lender during that time were chief financial officer Edward J. Sypher Jr., 40, and president of sales Edward E. Bohm, 39.
From:: Financing
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wednesday showed that domestic crude supplies fell by 3.3 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 18, following declines in each of the last seven weeks. That’s just below the forecast for a decline of 3.7 million barrels by analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institute had reported late Tuesday a fall of 3.6 million barrels, according to sources. Gasoline stockpiles were down 1.2 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles remained unchanged, according to the EIA. Prices for West Texas Intermediate crude edged up from their pre-supply data levels. October crude was up 18 cents, or 0.4%, at $48.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $47.77 before the supply data.
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From:: Stock Market News