Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday there’s “zero chance” that the debt ceiling won’t be raised. Speaking at an event in Kentucky with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Kentucky Republican said “America’s not going to default.” Mnuchin has said the Treasury can keep paying bills through September.
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From:: Stock Market News
Just one month after surging, the rate of past-due payments on securitized commercial real estate loans improved. Apartment loans are performing best.
On loans that are included in commercial mortgage-backed securities, delinquency of at least 60 days concluded July at 6.72 percent.
That was an improvement from the preceding month, when CMBS conduit loan delinquency ended the period at 7.07 percent.
From:: Financing
Like its secondary cousin, the Federal National Mortgage Association will begin allowing some home-purchase financing loans without appraisals.
On Friday, rival Freddie Mac revealed that its new automated collateral evaluation tool will enable some loans to be made made without a full appraisal.
The move by Freddie followed a decision back in June by the McLean, Virginia-based company to allow ACE to replace appraisals on some refinances.
From:: Financing
A man suspected of mowing down pedestrians in Barcelona last week in a terrorist attack has been arrested, according to a Spanish media report Monday. The Catalonian police force detained Younes Abouyaaqoub on Monday afternoon, according to La Vanguardia newspaper. Abouyaaqoub was named earlier by Spanish officials as the man suspected of driving a van down Barcelona’s busy Las Ramblas street last Thursday, killing 15 people and leaving at least 100 injured. Separately, Catalonian police said on Twitter a man who appeared to be wearing an explosive vest in Subirats, a suburb west of Barcelona, has been shot.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday briefly traded below an important trend line in early Monday trade, underscoring a steady deterioration of the benchmark’s bullish trajectory. The Dow , which was currently paring its losses, traded at an intraday low at 21,600, which puts the equity gauge below its 50-day moving average of 21,629.16, according to FactSet data. It’s the first time Dow has slipped below that short-term average level since mid May. Market technicians consider short-term and long-term moving averages in an asset as a dividing line between downward and upward momentum. The Dow, and other U.S. stock benchmarks have been retreating in recent action. All three, the Dow, S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index , have ended lower in the past two straight sessions, with Monday threatening to make it a third. On the day, stocks were paring somewhat losses in late-morning trade, with the S&P 500 trading flat at 2,426, the Dow off less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq looking at a decline of 0.3% at 6,199.
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Shares of diversified industrial company Johnson Controls Inc. rose about 4% Monday, after the company announced an accelerated management transition that will put current Chief Operating Officer George Oliver in charge from Sept. 1. Oliver will replace current chief executive and chairman Alex Molinaroli, who is leaving the company and board on the same day. “We have not yet spoken with the company, but expect the news to be positive for the stock (+4% in early trading), as it appears the company/board recognize the need for clearer leadership structure and greater accountability,” Baird Equity Research analyst Timothy Wojs wrote in a note. Oliver was a former CEO of Tyco before the two companies merged, and was expected to serve as COO of the combined company for 18 months after the close, becoming CEO for 12 months and then chairman and CEO after that. “Longer term, the CEO transition could be a building block for other strategic moves (such as possible alternatives for battery business,” said Wojs. “We view JCI as attractive multi-year risk/reward, given discounted valuation, with visibility from cost synergies driving double-digit EPS growth.” Johnson Controls makes air systems for buildings, is active in security and fire safety, refrigeration and energy storage. Shares have fallen 6.5% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.
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Ulta Beauty Inc. shares fell 3.6% Monday, after Stifel analysts cut their stock price target by 17% to $270 from $325, on concerns that the U.S. beauty category is showing slowing growth, while juggernaut Amazon.com Inc. is expanding into prestige brands. “Numerous data points suggest U.S. beauty category growth slowed in 2Q17, including from retailers Macy’s and Sephora, beauty companies L’Oréal and e.l.f. Beauty , and scanner data measuring sales trends in food, drug, and mass channels,” said analysts led by Mark Astrachan. Slowing makeup and mass-priced product sales are key for Ulta, as each category accounts for about 50% and 40% of sales, he said. At the same time, L’Oreal’s CEO hinted on the company’s earnings call that it might be open to selling on Amazon, while Estee Lauder declined to rule out eventual availability on Amazon. “We remain favorable on Ulta’s longer-term growth trajectory anticipating continued share gains of beauty retail sales, benefiting from the accelerating shift from traditional sales channels to specialty retailers, online, and mobile, and attributable to Ulta’s increasing focus on its loyalty program, targeted promotions, and new credit card program,: said Stifel. “That said, we believe near-term trading could result in more downside than upside given broader multiple contraction in retail due to slowing category growth and fears of increased competition from Amazon.” Ulta shares have fallen 7.6% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average early Monday was on track for its third straight declining session, with a downdraft in shares of Nike, Apple, and Goldman Sachs doing the most to drag the index lower. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares were weighing the Dow down by nearly 20 points, with Nike Inc. and Apple Inc. ‘s shares together taking a roughly 23 point toll. All totaled, the trio of components were pressuring the Dow by more than 40 points, with a $1 move in the price-weighted Dow equating to a 6.84-point swing. Overall, the stock market was on extending what has been a multisession skid. The Dow was off 44 points, or 0.2%, at 21,628, the S&P 500 index was trading 0.2% lower at 2,420, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.5% at 6,189. All three main benchmarks are set to show a decline in August, with the Dow and the S&P 500 both off 0.2% on the month, while the Nasdaq is on pace to shed 0.5% so far this month, according to FactSet data.
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Shares of copper miner Freeport McMoRan Inc. rallied 4.6% Monday to lead S&P 500 gainers, buoyed by rising metals prices as investors pushed copper and aluminum to multi-year highs. J.P. Morgan raised its estimates for a range of metals, pushing its 2017 copper price forecast up 3%, its 2018 aluminum forecast up 7% and its 2017 zinc forecast up 2%. The bank upgraded Century Aluminum Co. to overweight from neutral and raised its stock price target on Alcoa Inc. to $56 from $48. It raised its 2017 per-share earnings estimate for Freeport to $78 from $67. Century aluminum shares jumped 5.2%, Alcoa was up 1.0% and Newmont Mining Corp. rose 1.8%. Arconic Inc. jumped 1.3%. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. were up less than 1% Monday morning after the company said it plans to acquire Springpath Inc., a hyperconvergence startup, for $320 million in cash and equity awards. Hyperconvergence has been heating up in the tech space, as the software combines storage and computing functionality in a hybrid-cloud environment. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. made a move into the space this year, with a$650 million cash acquisition of Simplivity. Cisco said it has been working with Springpath since the beginning of 2016, when they worked to launch HyperFlex, Cisco’s own hyperconvergence system.
Cisco’s acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of Cisco’s 2018 fiscal year, which runs until Oct. 28. Shares of Cisco have lost 4.3% in the past month, while the S&P 500 has lost 2%.
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From:: Stock Market News