Author: Press Room

Mortgage rates remained relatively unchanged from last week, with a slight movement higher.  Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 6.78% this week from 6.77% last week. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.81% a year ago.”Mortgage rates essentially remained flat from last week but have decreased nearly half a percent from their peak earlier this year,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Despite these lower rates, buyers continue to pause, as reflected in tumbling new and existing home sales data.” The average…

National debts have increased by a substantial amount in the last 20 years, but none by as much as student loans. Since 2003, student loan debt has increased by 430%, according to a study by the Kaplan Group. Although student loan debts have stabilized in the last few years, levels remain staggeringly high. Debt in general grew by 81.5% during the same time period. Student loans led the pack, followed by auto loans, which grew by 91% in 20 years. Mortgages followed close behind, rising by 80% since 2003. Credit card debt also grew, but not by nearly as much…

A growing number of Americans are falling behind on their monthly credit card payments as they continue to battle high inflation and interest rates. New data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia shows that credit card delinquency rates in the first quarter of 2024 rose to the highest level since 2012, when the Fed began tracking the data. All stages of credit card delinquency — 30, 60 and 90 days past due — rose during the first three months of the year.The proportion of card balances that were more than 60 days past due at the end of…

Car buyers who were among the first to make the EV switch are far from wholly converted.Nearly 30% of electric vehicle owners globally are likely to switch back to internal combustion engine vehicles, according to a recent survey of consumers around the world conducted by McKinsey.Many U.S. EV owners, in particular, are having second thoughts. According to the McKinsey survey, 46% of U.S. EV owners claimed they were likely to switch back to ICEs, well above the 29% global average of EV owners who stated they were likely or very likely to switch back to gas-powered cars, which included drivers…

After weeks of hitting new highs, the S&P 500 index on Wednesday suffered its worst trading session since 2022.The market broadly began to recover Thursday amid a sell-off in technology stocks. Experts say those stock moves and shuffling sectors are common during a bull market.But Bank of America is calling today’s conditions something else — a buffalo market — which is still in the bull family. But unlike the bull market, it may get tired after a strong runup.”It might roam, it might wander in the summer months,” said Marci McGregor, head of portfolio strategy at Merrill and Bank of…

OpenAI on Thursday announced its most direct threat yet to its stalwart Big Tech rivals: a search engine that uses artificial intelligence baked in from the beginning. The company is testing SearchGPT, which will combine its AI technology with real-time information from the web to allow people to search for information in the same way they talk to ChatGPT. While the search engine is currently in an early test for a limited number of users, OpenAI said it plans to integrate the tools into ChatGPT in the future. With the new feature, OpenAI will be directly competing with Google, which…

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Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript July 24, 2024 5:00 PM ET Company Participants Aaron Evans – VP of IRJon Vander Ark – CEOBrian DelGhiaccio – CFO Conference Call Participants Toni Kaplan – Morgan StanleyTyler Brown – Raymond JamesKevin Chiang – CIBCNoah Kaye – OppenheimerBryan Burgmeier – CitiJerry Revich – Goldman SachsSabahat Khan – RBC Capital MarketsDavid Manthey – BairdStephanie Moore – JefferiesBrian Butler – StifelTobey Sommer – Truist Securities Operator Good afternoon, and welcome to the Republic Services Second Quarter 2024 Investor Conference call. Republic Services is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Ford shares fell sharply late on Wednesday after the automaker reported second-quarter earnings far below analyst expectations, citing an unexpected spike in costs for fixing faulty cars under warranty. The carmaker reported adjusted earnings of 46 cents per share in the second quarter, compared to the 68 cents per share anticipated by analysts polled by FactSet. Shares in the US carmaker were down nearly 12 per cent in after-hours trading.Ford has struggled to control its warranty costs for years, with executives citing…

Vice President Kamala Harris is less than two weeks away from naming her own running mate. That’s the timeline the presumptive Democratic nominee has given to a team of lawyers and advisers who are conducting one of the most accelerated vice presidential searches in modern American history, people familiar with the process tell CNN, with a goal of announcing a nominee before August 7. Democrats close to the process say the roster of leading contenders being vetted still includes North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has developed…