Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
The Puerto Rican foreclosure crisis is currently worse than the U.S. foreclosure crisis at its peak in 2010. As the economy worsens, residents continue to flee the island, flooding into Texas and Florida. Some homeowners even leave their keys in their home, abandoning everything on their way out. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
VHT, a real estate photography company, was all set to receive $8.32 million in damages from Zillow Group after a jury found that images from VHT appeared on the Zillow Digs site without VHT’s consent, but that’s not the case anymore. This week, a judge cut the original $8.32 million award in half because there wasn’t sufficient evidence that anyone saw the majority of the pictures in question. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. tanked 12% late Thursday after the retailer reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and sales that missed expectations, citing “softness” in in-store sales. Bed Bath & Beyond said it earned $75.3 million, or 53 cents a share, compared with $122.6 million, or 80 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Sales reached $2.74 billion, flat in relation to the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 66 cents a share on sales of $2.79 billion. The company saw “strong growth” in digital channels in the quarter, but in addition to in-store softness, it also faced higher direct-to-customer shipping expenses, coupon expenses, and advertising costs during the quarter, it said in a statement. “It remains to be seen whether these challenges were more pronounced in, or unique to, the first quarter due to the smaller sales base in this period, and/or a later start to the summer selling period,” it said. Shares ended the regular trading session up 0.2%.
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 Dow industrials and the S&P 500 on Thursday logged their third straight finish in the red, despite crude-oil prices gaining after a recent sell-off, and as health-care stocks lured buyers. Still, sharp gains in the health-care sector wasn’t enough for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index to halt a recent downtrend. The Dow closed little changed but enough for the index to end off 0.1% lower at 21,397, the S&P 500 index [: SPX] closed down, 1 point, or less than 0.1%, at 2,434, while the Nasdaq Composite Index logged a slight gain of less than 0.1% at 6,236. Health-care was the start of the day’s action, with the sector, as measured by the exchange-traded Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF on pace to book its best weekly gain, up 9.3%, since the period ended Nov. 11. A popular biotechnology ETF, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF , also was on track for its best weekly gain since November. Those moves came as lawmakers released a draft of the GOP-led, health-care bill that is aimed at overhauling Obamacare. Among companies, health-care names Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. Inc. [: MRK] were among the best performers among blue chips. Looking ahead, the Federal Reserve’s test of the banking sectors financial health will be released after the close, which could influence trade for banks including Goldman Sachs Group , and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. . Meanwhile, crude-oil prices , advanced 0.5%, to settle at $42.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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
By cbasile@housingwire.com Currier will oversee retail administration, project management, sales technology, training and development for the independent mortgage lender. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
The U.S. isn’t the only country seeing high rental prices. A new study from RentCafé showed the five most unaffordable cities in the world among top emerging or striving economies based on median income for the area. Even in cities where the median income is very high, it’s still not always enough to keep up with rising rents. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Oil prices rose Thursday, recouping only small portion of the more than 2% decline they saw as strong U.S. crude output remained a key concern. The energy market will get a weekly update on the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil on Friday. August WTI crude tacked on 21 cents, or 0.5%, to settle $42.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following two straight sessions of declines.
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
There’s a battle brewing between two real estate titans as Starwood Capital Group and D.R. Horton are both angling to acquire Forestar Group, a residential and mixed-use real estate developer. Starwood wants to buy the company for $14.25 per share, while D.R. Horton wants to buy 75% of the company for $16.25 per share. But Thursday, Starwood upped the ante by raising its offer for Forestar. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Popular funds used to invest in the health-care and biotech sectors on Thursday were on track for the best weekly advance in seven months, according to FactSet data. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF was up 1.8% on the day and looking at a 10% weekly advance, which would mark its best such gain since the week ended Nov. 11 when the ETF surged 14.4%. The entire health-care complex was on the rise, with the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF also on track for its best weekly gain, up 4.2%, since November, with a 1.5% daily climb in sight. Gains in the IBB were being aided by a 13% rise in shares of XBiotech Inc. and a 8% jump in Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. [: SGMO]. The moves come as the U.S. Senate offered a glimpse of a draft of a health-care bill and as President Donald Trump has talked about making changes to drug pricing. Health-care stocks, led by Gilead Sciences were the best performer in the S&P 500 index . The S&P 500 was trading up 5 points, or 0.2%, at 2,440, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1% at 21,435. The Nasdaq Composite Index , meanwhile, where biotech is a big component, was trading 0.3% higher at 6,253.
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
Over at Caliber Home Loans Inc., staffing has expanded by more than 1,500 employees during the past 12 months. Also expanding was its mortgage servicing portfolio.
There were 427,029 single-family loans with a collective unpaid principal balance of $96.376 billion serviced by the Irving, Texas-based company as of March 31, 2017.
Caliber revealed those details, as well as other operational metrics, as part of the Mortgage Daily First Quarter 2017 Mortgage Origination Survey.
From:: Financing