Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
In the newly created role, Marcello Mastioni will oversee growth for the company by focusing on digital experience and strategy across Altisource’s consumer- and investor-focused marketplaces including Owners.com and Hubzu, a 2017 HousingWire Tech100 winner. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Blackstone Group LP said late Thursday it agreed to acquire Harvest Fund Advisors LLC for an undisclosed sum. Harvest Fund, which manages more than $10 billion in assets, invests capital from institutional investors into separately managed accounts or pooled vehicles, Blackstone said. Blackstone said it expects the acquisition to close in the fourth quarter. Blackstone shares were unchanged at $31.60 after hours.
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
Home sales are being held back in 2017, however low levels of housing inventory isn’t the only thing holding originations back. Freddie Mac explained the increase in competition is pushing cash sales higher, and bringing mortgage originations down. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Jay Belson, a Beverly Hills broker and developer who specializes in luxury real estate, will pay more than $7.5 million in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused Belson of defrauding investors in a series of house flips in Southern California. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Dillard’s Inc. said late Thursday its board of directors declared a cash dividend of 10 cents, from a prior quarterly amount of 7 cents. The dividend is payable Oct. 30 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 29. Shares of Dillard’s were flat in late trading, after ending the regular session down 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.
From:: Stock Market News
Plans for a White House advisory council on infrastructure have been canceled, a White House spokesperson told MarketWatch on Thursday. The decision not to move forward with the council comes in the wake of the dissolving of two separate councils on Wednesday. Business executives have backed away from President Donald Trump after his comments on the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
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
Shares of Gap Inc. rallied in Thursday’s extended session after the retailer posted better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its 2017 earnings outlook. The company, whose brands include the namesake chain of stores, Banana Republic and Old Navy, reported its second-quarter earnings more than doubled to $271 million, or 68 cents a share, from $125 million, or 31 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Gap would have earned 58 cents. Revenue slipped to $3.8 billion from $3.85 billion, in part due to negative impact from foreign exchange fluctuations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 52 cents a share on revenue of $3.77 billion. Same-store sales grew 1% in the second quarter, improving from a decline of 2% in the same period last year. The company raised its 2017 adjusted earnings per share outlook to a range of $2.02 to $2.10 versus $1.95 to $2.05 projected in May. Gap shares jumped 11% after hours.
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
The latest real estate finance forecast has mortgage refinance production for this year and next year up by more than $40 billion from what was expected a month ago.
From July 1, 2017, through Sept. 30, residential loan originations, including refinances and loans to finance home purchase, are expected to reach $453 billion.
Activity is then forecasted to fall to $366 billion during the final-three months of this year and $312 billion in the first-three months of next year.
From:: Financing
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday closed with its first drop of at least 1%, snapping a streak that had run for more than 60 sessions. The Dow finished 274 points, or 1.2%, at 21,750, as the broader stock market faced its biggest selloff since last week’s North Korea-fueled jitters. The blue-chip gauge’s absence of down days of at least 1% was the longest since a 69-day streak ended Oct. 25, 1995, or about 22 years, according to WSJ Market Group Data. Thursday’s fall for the Dow came as the broader market appeared to be fretting about a number of bearish factors, including a record-setting market that has been viewed as too rich and due for a pullback, concerns about the health of the economy and the Federal Reserve’s comfort in normalizing interest rates amid levels of inflation that have run below their 2% target, considered indicative of a normally functioning economy. Heightened questions about President Donald Trump’s ability to pass a raft of pro-growth policies amid the business world’s fervent denouncement of his reaction to a white-supremacist rally also has helped to erode bullish sentiment. The S&P 500 index , meanwhile, ended down 1.5% at 2,430 and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.9% at 6,221.
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
Shares of Ross Stores Inc. rose more than 11% late Thursday after the retailer reported second-quarter earnings and sales above Wall Street expectations and forecast sales and earnings growth for the second half of the year and for the full fiscal year. Ross said it earned $317 million, or 82 cents a share, in the quarter, compared to $282 million, or 71 cents a share, in the prior-year quarter. Sales rose 8% to $3.43 billion, from $3.18 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 76 cents a share on sales of $3.37 billion. Comparable-store sales were up 4% on top of 4% growth last year, the company said in a statement. An operating margin of 14.9% outperformed the company’s projections, “mainly due to a combination of higher merchandise margin and leverage on our above-plan sales gains,” Ross said. Ross forecast same-store sales gains between 1% and 2% in the third quarter, and third-quarter per-share earnings to be between 64 cents and 67 cents, up from 62 cents a share in the third quarter of 2016 and compared with analyst expectations of 67 cents. The company forecast fourth-quarter same-store sales growth of 1% to 2%, with per-share earnings between 88 cents and 92 cents. Based on the results for the first half of the year, the company guided for fiscal 2017 per-share earnings to rise 12% to 14% to between $3.16 and $3.23. The analysts surveyed by FactSet expect full-year EPS of $3.17 for Ross. Shares ended the regular trading session down 1.9%.
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