Personal and Business Loans

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks were little changed on the open Monday after a report showed that U.S. personal spending was weaker than expected, and on news that Spain’s economy has fallen into recession.

Just before 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 28 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 7 points and the NASDAQ fell 18.

Market analysts are hopeful that the mostly positive first-quarter corporate earnings have boosted U.S. investors’ confidence enough that the gloomy news from Spain will not weigh too heavily on markets in the United States.

Not helping equities Monday was a government report that showed personal spending rose 0.3 percent in March, less than the expected 0.4 percent.

While investors remain cautious following the dire news out of Spain, they will also have plenty of other reports due this week that may keep them on the sidelines, including manufacturing data on Tuesday, the European Central Bank’s policy statement Thursday, and April’s U.S. jobs report on Friday.

U.S. stocks managed to close higher Friday, as better-than-expected corporate reports held more clout than a report showing disappointing first-quarter economic growth.

In world markets Monday, Spain’s government said its economy declined for the second straight quarter, putting the nation into a recession. The report came just a few days following S&P’s downgrade of Spain’s credit rating and a reading on the country’s unemployment rate that showed it hit a new high.

The news sent Europeans market lower.

Hong Kong ended higher. while markets in Tokyo and Shanghai were closed for holidays.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar rose against the euro and the British pound, but was flat against the Japanese yen.

Oil for June delivery slid 73 cents to $104.20 a barrel, and gold for June delivery slipped $11.60 to $1,654.80 a troy ounce.

View full post on All Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Milk, bananas, bread, paper towels, mortgages. Yup, add mortgages to your Costco shopping list. It’s true; the USA’s largest warehouse membership chain now offers mortgages.

After a year of testing the waters, Costco is launching a full service mortgage lending program on its website in partnership with New Jersey based commercial bank First Choice Bank, and 10 other lenders.

To date, under the program, Costco partners have issued over 10,000 mortgages. The numbers is expected to soar as the warehouse retailer markets the service more aggressively to its millions of loyal customers in its myriad stores and in its widely circulated publication Connection.

Like others, Costco’s mortgage lending site gathers quotes from a variety of lenders. But, unlike others in the industry, under the Costco program, the borrower’s identity is revealed only after they formally choose the lender.

Costco makes no profit on the lending itself, but it does get paid to market the service.

View full post on All Stories

New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks opened mixed Thursday following weak jobless claims.

Just after 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lost 31 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 2 points and the NASDAQ gained 3.

Holding markets back were numbers from the Labor Department that showed while unemployment claims declined by 2,000 to 386,000 last week, they still came in higher than the 375,000 claims that had been forecast.

Prior to Thursday’s open, Bank of America reported mixed results but managed to show that that company’s earnings more than doubled from a year ago.

Morgan Stanley also reported that earnings and revenue were up from the same period a year ago.

Earnings overall have come in better than expected. Of the 77 companies in the S&P 500 that had reported their first quarter results as of Wednesday, 63 beat expectations, eight matched and only six have missed, Capital IQ reports.

In world markets Thursday, European stocks were mixed in afternoon trading and Asia ended the day also mixed.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar gained against the euro and the Japanese yen, but slipped against the British pound.

Oil for May delivery fell 15 cents to $102.52 a barrel and Gold futures for April delivery added $7.70 to $1,646.50 a troy ounce.

 

View full post on All Stories

New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – Short sales out paced foreclosures in 12 states in January, market research form Realty Trac reported Friday.

The increase highlights that more homeowners are finding an easier way out of a distressed home loans with short sales, and that more lenders are embracing them.

Short sales occur when a lender agrees to a home sale for less than what is owed. In January, the number surged 33 percent year-over-year, and preliminary data suggests February numbers will also come in robust.

Lenders have become increasingly acceptable to short sales, which tend to hurt neighboring homeowners less than foreclosures. In addition, homeowners may regain eligibility for a new mortgage quicker than those who go through a foreclosure.

Foreclosure sales occur after a bank has repossessed a property, and they still outnumber short sales, but the gap is narrowing.

Data from mortgage tracker Lender Processing Services, as reported this week from Bloomberg News, revealed that short sales exceeded foreclosures in January for the very first time.

States which led in short sales include those beaten up most in the housing downturn, and include California, Arizona and Florida, and nine others.

New rules have slowed foreclosures in many states, spurring short sales, industry analysts note.

View full post on All Stories

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The U.S. economy created 120,000 new jobs in March, causing the unemployment rate to drop slightly to 8.2 percent, down from 8.3 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

Nonfarm employment rose in manufacturing, food services and drinking; however, it was down in retail trade.

Although the report was good news, it was not great news. The economy needs to create from 120,000 to 200,000 jobs monthly to keep up with growth in the labor force. Many economists had expected job growth closer to the top of that range.

March growth was less than that of the previous three months, and not sufficient to fuel a recovery in the jobs sector of the economy.

The official number of unemployed persons remained virtually unchanged at 12.7 million, compared to 12.8 in February. However, the percentage of working-age Americans who had a job also dropped slightly to 63.8 percent in March, compared to 63.9 percent in February. Before the recession, 89 percent or more of working-age Americans had a job.

The gap between the percentage of working-age people who have jobs and the official unemployment rate is because people are only counted as unemployed if they actively look for jobs. Many discouraged workers eventually stop looking for jobs.

Long-term unemployment is defined as individuals who are jobless for 27 weeks or more and who continue actively to look for work. That number was essentially unchanged in March at 5.3 million, with those people accounting for 42.5 percent of the unemployed. That number has fallen by 1.4 million since April 2010.

The number of people who were working part-time because their employers cut their hours or because they were unable to find full-time work also fell. That number dropped from 8.1 to 7.7 million people.

View full post on All Stories

Topeka, KS, United States (AHN) – The first of three very lucky Mega Millions lottery winners has claimed his or her winning share.

The Kansas winner will share the world-record $656 million jackpot with two other unidentified winners in Maryland and Illinois.

Kansas law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, so in a grand ceremony, Kansas lottery officials presented a jumbo check for an estimated $218 million to a smiling cardboard cut-out figure with the words “anonymous jackpot winner” printed on its chest.

The name, age, and gender of the Kansas winner were not revealed, but lottery authorities said the winner does play the lottery often and is looking forward to retiring. The ticket was sold at Casey’s General Store in the town on Otawa.

The winner chose to take the cash option of $157 million instead of the yearly payments over 26 years, which would have matched the $218 million check.

The winning number in the drawing that caused a country-wide frenzy were: 2-4-23-38-46 with the Mega Ball number 23

View full post on All Stories

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial unemployment claims hit a four-year low during the week ending March 24, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

First-time claims from jobless workers fell by 5,000 to 359,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 364,000.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 365,000, which marked a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 368,500.

However, the percentage of workers covered by the unemployment compensation benefits insurance program also fell. It was 2.6 percent for the week ending March 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s revised rate of 2.7 percent.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 17, the latest week for which such data is available, was:

• Florida (+1,876)
• Hawaii (+469)
• Mississippi (+405)
• New Mexico (+292)
• Iowa (+278),

View full post on All Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Home prices dropped for the fifth consecutive month in January, reaching the lowest point since the end of 2002.

The average home sold in the first month of 2012 lost 0.8 percent of its value, compared with a month earlier, and prices were down 3.8 percent from 12 months earlier, according to the S&P Case Shiller home price index of 20 major markets report released on Tuesday.

Home prices have tumbled a whopping 34.4 percent from the peak set in July 2006.

While several economic reports have signaled a recovery for the long-ailing housing market, home prices have continued to drop, with new lows seen in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa.

Only three of the 20 index cities registered gains in January. Phoenix led with a 0.9 percent gain month-over-month, followed up Washington up 0.7 percent and Miami up 0.6 percent.

Potential homebuyers lack confidence in the market, industry analysts note. Lending standards are still tight, and last week the average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to more than 4 percent for the first time since October 2011.

Still looming in the fragile market is the massive number of potential foreclosures,

View full post on All Stories

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a four-year low for the week ending March 17, according to the Labor Department.

Claims last week dropped by 5,000 to 348,000 from the previous week’s figure of 353,000.

Those new numbers renew hope that the jobs sector of the economy is finally in recovery mode.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 355,000, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 356,250.

The number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 3, the most recent week for which such data is available, was 7,281,541, marking a decrease of 142,499 from the prior week.

View full post on All Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed above 4 percent for the first time since October, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

In its weekly report, the mortgage giant noted the average rate on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased to 4.08 percent in the week ending March 22. That was up from 3.92 percent in the prior week. A year earlier, the rate rested at 4.81 percent.

The 15-year-fixed rate mortgage rose to 3.30 percent in the latest week. That was up from 3.16 percent in the previous week.

Economists say that mortgage rates are inching higher along with improved economic data, and are catching up with increases in U.S. Treasury bond yields.

The housing market has been showing mixed signs of recovery, and the unemployment situation appears to be improving.

However, higher rates slow mortgage activity.

View full post on All Stories