Courtney Keating | Getty Images Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest level since March last week, sparking swift demand in refinancing. Homebuyers, however, seemed unimpressed. Applications to refinance a home loan jumped 15% last week, compared with the previous week, to the highest level since August 2022, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted
Month: July 2024
California voters consider environmental policy so important, according to a recent poll, that it could influence who they support for president. Most favor a $10 billion bond measure proposed to pay for flood control and climate resiliency projects, and the majority plan to cast their ballots for President Joe Biden in the deep blue state.
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Municipals were little changed Friday ahead of another week of healthy issuance. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended down. Tax-exempts, aided by rallying USTs, are “enjoying a relatively strong start” to the second half, said Barclays strategists Mikhail Foux and Clare Pickering. Investment-grade and high-yield returns “have been remarkably similar, though — on the
Housing is the most considerable expense for U.S. consumers — and while high rents and home prices are obstacles to saving for potential homebuyers, access to affordable credit is another significant roadblock. An estimated 50 million Americans are “credit invisible,” according to a 2022 fact sheet from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s
An Oklahoma judge on Friday issued a permanent injunction against the enforcement of a 2022 state law that led to four investment banks being banned from underwriting municipal bonds and the targeting of other financial firms for divestment purposes. Oklahoma County District Court Judge Sheila Stinson took the action “based upon the act being unconstitutionally
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Financed with a mix of bonds, general revenue funds and some federal funding, Missouri this month kicked off a major expansion of Interstate 70, which runs parallel to the Missouri River and links St. Louis with Kansas City. The project, which spans 200 miles from Blue Springs to Wentzville, involves repairing the existing four lanes
People look at a virtually complete Stegosaurus fossil on display at Sotheby’s on July 10, 2024 in New York City. Alexi Rosenfeld | Getty Images Billionaire investor Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, purchased a late-Jurassic stegosaurus skeleton for $44.6 million at Sotheby’s Wednesday, marking the most valuable fossil ever sold at
Halbergman | E+ | Getty Images Are you ready to buy a home? Many renters have no idea. Millions of renter households in 2022 would have been able to buy a house that year, according to a new analysis by Zillow, which is based on estimates from the American Community Survey by the U.S. Census
Short-term munis were slightly firmer Thursday as muni mutual funds saw continued inflows and the primary market slowed. U.S. Treasuries yields rose and equities sold off. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Thursday was at 64%, the three-year at 66%, the five-year at 68%, the 10-year at 67% and the 30-year at 83%, according to Refinitiv Municipal
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The threat of cybercrime perpetrated against municipalities continues to mutate into more sophisticated and life-threatening schemes. “If I had to tell you what keeps me up at night, it’s not necessarily the garden variety ransomware,” said Omid Rahmani, an associate director for U.S. public finance at Fitch Ratings “It’s the advanced, nation-state, havoc-based attacks. These
International buyers of U.S. residential real estate are running into the same hurdles as domestic buyers — namely high prices and tight supply — but they’re also up against a strong U.S. dollar, which makes the properties even more expensive for them. As a result, international buyers are pulling out. They purchased 54,300 existing homes
Municipals were little changed Wednesday as the primary market saw another busy day, led by an upsized $2.5 billion from the New York City Transitional Finance Authority and $1.3 billion from the Regents of the University of California. U.S. Treasuries were slightly firmer and equities were mixed toward the close. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Wednesday
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Municipals were firmer in secondary trading Tuesday as the primary market picked up steam, while U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities ended up. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Tuesday was at 65%, the three-year at 66%, the five-year at 68%, the 10-year at 67% and the 30-year at 84%, according to Refinitiv Municipal Market Data’s 3
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The International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that upside risks to inflation have increased, calling into question the prospect of multiple Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year. In its latest World Economic Outlook update, the IMF said “the momentum on global disinflation is slowing, signaling bumps along the path.” The rise in sequential inflation in
An employee handles one kilogram gold bullions at the YLG Bullion International Co. headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. Chalinee Thirasupa | Bloomberg | Getty Images Gold prices advanced Tuesday, on track for a record close as rising expectations of a September interest rate cut bolstered demand for bullion. Spot gold gained
With San Francisco facing record high commercial vacancies, one mayoral candidate has a plan to reshape the city’s business district and surrounding areas. Democrat Mark Farrell, former interim Mayor, is proposing a 20-year vision to revitalize San Francisco’s downtown in a bid to help the city bounce back from challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. His
U.S. states are expected to cut their budgets, marking a return to more modest levels of spending after years of stimulus-fueled growth and tax cuts. Total general-fund spending is expected to fall to $1.2 trillion in fiscal 2025, according to an analysis by the The Pew Charitable Trusts. That’s a roughly 6% decline from estimates of
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, left, and David Rubenstein, co-founder of Carlyle Group Inc., during an Economic Club of Washington event in Washington, D.C. on Monday. Powell said he will complete his current term as Fed chair but had no further comment on his plans or aspirations after his term expires in 2026.Bloomberg News Regardless
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In this article BLK Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT The BlackRock logo is pictured outside the company’s headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City on May 25, 2021. Carlo Allegri | Reuters When BlackRock CEO Larry Fink bought the iShares ETF business from Barclays for roughly $13 billion in 2009, the economy
Oscar Wong | Moment | Getty Images Not every renter wanting to buy a home dreams of ditching their lease. Some wish to remain tenants even as they become landlords. The concept behind “rentvesting” is that an individual rents their primary residence in one city and then buys an investment property somewhere else that they
Ohio state legislators are considering a bill that would bar the state’s pension systems, state colleges and universities and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation from prioritizing environment, social and governance factors when making investment decisions. Ohio’s Senate Bill 6 passed the state Senate on May 10 by a vote of 26 to 7, with senators
The North Carolina Local Government Commission approved $226 million in water revenue bonds for three municipalities in the Research Triangle Region at its meeting Tuesday. The commission approved a $76 million bond and an $88.4 million state revolving fund loan for Sanford, a $75 million bond and a $54 million SRF loan for Fuquay-Varina, and
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In this article WMT JPM NOG Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Walmart trailers sit in storage at a Walmart Distribution Center in Hurricane, Utah on May 30, 2024. George Frey | Afp | Getty Images Dividend-paying stocks can enhance investors’ portfolio returns and provide certainty in shaky markets. Investors can track Wall Street analysts’