Author: News Room

Mortgage rates increased this week, approaching nearly 7% again as rates remain stubbornly high and continue to hinder the housing market. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Wednesday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 6.95% this week from 6.86% last week. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.81% a year ago.  The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage also rose, jumping to 6.25% from 6.16% last week. One year ago, the rate on the 15-year fixed note averaged 6.24%. Read the full article here

Adult son of a real estate investor began to notice that his father, Wealthy Dad (WD), was slipping. WD was becoming forgetful. He had purchased a lot of real estate in his younger days, and owned eight single family houses in one of the most expensive markets in the U.S. He gradually lost the ability to manage his rental homes and other investments. Adult son (AS) who was a successful professional, began to feel a sense of panic. Those houses were falling apart, he knew, but he did not realize how bad things had gotten. AS knew that the burden…

Unlock the US Election Countdown newsletter for freeThe stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White HouseJoe Biden has said he “screwed up” during his debate with Donald Trump, but insisted he would press ahead with his re-election bid despite mounting pressure to step aside.“I had a bad night,” Biden told a local radio station in Wisconsin in a pre-recorded interview that aired on Thursday morning. “And the fact of the matter is that, you know, I screwed up. I made a mistake.”The US president added he was “going to win this election”, repeating a…

Once a darling, some of the shine has come off of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) and the shares have continued to lag the industrial sector since my last update. I believe some of the trouble is that Fortive doesn’t really stand out thematically, and investors have moved on from (or at least are paying lower multiples for) stories that used to be fueled by M&A-driven growth in SaaS and recurring revenue. Moreover, with the recent secular downturn, Fortive’s growth doesn’t look all that differentiated, which I believe was also a big part of bull theses. I don’t dislike Fortive, but I do…

American Express is acquiring yet another restaurant booking platform. It’s a potential gamechanger for cardholders in a world where nabbing a table at a popular restaurant feels like an impossible feat, thanks to an insurmountable number of bots and table resellers disrupting the market.  In major cities, securing a spot at a coveted restaurant can require booking weeks or even months in advance. More often than not, diners also have to know the precise moment when the reservation window opens.With American Express’ acquisition of reservation, table and event management technology provider Tock, announced last week, the company will effectively increase…

Student loan borrowers in the U.S. are taking their time resuming repayments after the last pandemic-related pause expired late last year. Repayments were paused for borrowers of federal student loans from mid-March 2020, when the COVID pandemic began, and remained in effect until Sept. 1, 2023, 3½ years after the repayment pause began.Data from the Department of Education shows that, as of the end of March of this year, almost 20 million borrowers have resumed making payments on their student loans, while roughly 19 million haven’t done so, leaving their accounts in a state of delinquency, default or otherwise paused…

More bad news is on the horizon for Florida homeowners. On top of insurers pulling out of the state altogether, Florida’s state-created Citizen’s Property Insurance just voted to raise rates by 14% across the state. The board of governors for the insurance corporation voted unanimously earlier in June. Raising the rates by 14% is dangerously close to the maximum rate increase allowed by the state. Homeowners should be prepared to see their rates rise beginning next year, should the change officially take effect. Currently, this is just a recommended rate increase. The official increase still needs to be approved by the…

Those online senior living referral services are getting a lot of attention these days. And not in a good way. The chair of the U.S. Senate Aging Committee has begun an investigation into assisted living referrals by A Place for Mom, one of the biggest commercial advice outfits. At the same time, more states are requiring firms to publicly disclose their financial arrangements with the facilities they recommend. The business model for most of these companies is simple: They steer users to senior living or other service providers that pay them, generally without regard to quality. In some cases, they…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Britain will go to the polls on Thursday with Sir Keir Starmer predicted to win power in a historic Labour landslide, leaving Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party facing one of the worst defeats in its history.A series of opinion polls suggested Starmer was on course to win a House of Commons majority of more than 200 — beating Sir Tony Blair’s 179 majority in 1997 — and giving Labour its first general election victory since 2005.Polling stations open at 7am and close at…

Investment Thesis Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTNX) has a lot going for it. Simply put, it’s perceived as a safe investment due to its mid-teens growth rate and substantial scale. The company is growing steadily without needing exceptional performance each quarter. With approximately $2.5 billion in forward run-rate revenues, Nutanix is seen as stable yet still growing enough to remain attractive to investors. Its valuation of 31x next year’s non-GAAP operating profits remains attractive, too, particularly given the recent pullback on its stock. Altogether, there’s a lot to like here. Rapid Recap Back in March, I said, […] my bullish stance on…