Author: Press Room

Mortgage rates declined for a second consecutive week but remain above 7% as a home affordability crisis maintains its grip on the housing market. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 7.02% this week from 7.09% last week. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.39% a year ago.  The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage also fell to 6.28% from 6.38% last week. One year ago, the rate on the 15-year fixed note averaged 5.75%. Read the full article here

There’s been much ado about federal student loan forgiveness with little relief directed to students holding private student debt. However, a little-known program directed by private student loan lender Navient is forgiving private loans for borrowers seeking relief on the grounds that their school lied to them. The Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL) launched a campaign to raise awareness of the servicer’s “School Misconduct Discharge Application.” The application gives borrowers who experienced misconduct at their school the right to apply directly for discharge of private loans, marking a long-overdue recognition of borrower rights, PPSL said.  In January 2022, Navient entered…

eBay customers will no longer be able to use American Express credit cards to pay for purchases on the online marketplace come mid-August. The e-commerce company said in a statement to FOX Business that “unacceptably high fees American Express charges for processing credit card transactions” have prompted it to cease accepting American Express as of Aug. 17.The move, earlier reported by Bloomberg and The Associated Press, will apply for eBay transactions in all markets around the world where the online marketplace operates.  “At a time when payment processing costs should be declining because of technological advancements, investments in fraud capabilities and…

Consumer satisfaction is taking a dip in the wake of high interest rates, driven up by inflation and the remnants of the pandemic. Nearly 73% of consumers with loans are now categorized as financially unhealthy, J.D. Power’s Consumer Lending Satisfaction study found. Last year, 67% of consumers were categorized the same way, indicating that times are getting tougher for many borrowers. This is forcing lenders to up their offerings to attract and keep customers.Higher levels of financial health often correlate with customer satisfaction. On the other end of the scale, consumers struggling financially report less satisfaction with their loans, the…

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: CrowdStrike — The cybersecurity company popped 9% after posting a strong outlook and a first-quarter results beat. CrowdStrike reported adjusted earnings of 93 cents per share on $921 million in revenue, which came in over the earnings of 89 cents per share on $905 million in revenue that analysts surveyed by LSEG had forecast. Hewlett Packard Enterprise — The technology stock climbed 12%, touching a new 52-week high after earnings came in ahead of expectations. Hewlett Packard Enterprise posted adjusted earnings per share of 42 cents on $7.2 billion in revenue,…

Bill Gates recently released a list of book recommendations for the upcoming summer. He only referred to one of them as a “must read.”That’s “How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen,” written by New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks and published in October 2023. In the book, Brooks offers research and tips for how to better communicate and connect with other people.”More than a guide to better conversations, it’s a blueprint for a more connected and humane way of living,” Gates wrote on his blog last month. “It’s a must-read for…

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday she is indefinitely delaying the implementation of congestion pricing in New York City’s borough of Manhattan just weeks before the plan was set to take effect, dealing a major blow to transportation advocates who have spent decades pushing for the deal and a win for several opponents of the plan who say the toll is a regressive tax on commuters. “After careful consideration I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion system risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time,” Hochul said during a video briefing…

MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDB) Baird 2024 Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference June 4, 2024 1:25 PM ET Company Participants Michael Gordon – Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating OfficerSerge Tanjga – Senior Vice President, Finance Conference Call Participants Will Power – Baird Will Power All right. We’re going to go ahead and get started. Thanks, everybody, for attending. Good afternoon. My name is Will Power. I cover cloud software for Baird. It’s my great pleasure to have MongoDB here. MongoDB, as many of you all know, is really a leader in next-generation databases. From the Company, we have Michael Gordon, who…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.More than half of British universities featured in a leading global ranking of academic institutions have seen their ratings decline this year as the UK higher education sector faces a financial squeeze and domestic political attacks on its reputation.The annual QS World University Rankings features 90 British universities, including three in the top five, but lower-ranked institutions have gradually fallen down the list in the face of a looming funding crisis and increasing competition from Asia.The 2025 rankings were published as a…

Lawyers for Donald Trump asked the judge overseeing his criminal hush money case to terminate the gag order against the former president, saying it’s no longer justified since the trial is over. “Now that the trial is concluded, the concerns articulated by the government and the Court do not justify continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump – who remains the leading candidate in the 2024 president election – and the American people,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan. In the letter sent Monday and made public Tuesday, Trump’s attorneys said the justification for…