A wall mounted dual flush toilet from Duravit Photo courtesy of Duravit You might notice I’m particularly obsessed with toilets these past two months. Being cooped up in the house makes the necessaries in the home all the more important. Over the years, there has been an increased concern for the environment and particularly in
Month: April 2020
As investors and financial markets struggle to find their footing during the coronavirus pandemic, the effects are hitting consumers where they live – in mortgage rates. Not only are rates swinging wildly day to day, they are varying more dramatically lender to lender. In just the past four weeks, the average rate on the 30-year
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said that dominant U.S. companies are further solidifying their positions during the coronavirus pandemic, evidenced by the Nasdaq 100 being almost even for the year. “This is the big triumphing over the little guy and if you don’t mind making money in the market off that, that’s what’s going on,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the
New Jersey’s rating outlook was revised to negative from stable Monday by Moody’s Investors Service, which affirmed its A3 rating on the state’s GO debt. “The affirmation of New Jersey’s ratings and revision of the outlook to negative from stable reflects the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the state and our expectation that the
The Roku 3 television streaming player menu is shown on a television in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013. Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images Check out the companies making headlines after the bell. Roku Inc — The television streaming platform’s stock soared 9% in extended trading after the company estimated
The coronavirus outbreak is already causing a spike in commercial mortgage delinquencies in the hotel and retail sectors, a new analysis finds. The data speaks to a bigger fear haunting the commercial real estate industry: That Covid-19 could spark an even bigger mortgage crisis than the one in 2008, which devastated American homeowners. Commercial mortgage-backed
JPMorgan kicks off earnings season on Tuesday. The bad news: Short-term guidance will be very ugly. But there’s some good news: 1) The Securities and Exchange Commission has told corporations that this earnings season is not routine and has encouraged companies to provide forward-looking guidance, and not be concerned that the information may change rapidly.
The municipal market rallied Thursday, with yields declining at least 10 basis points across the curve against a backdrop of the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would purchase up to $500 billion of short-term municipal notes. While the announcement signaled the Fed would prop up short-term munis, long-term bonds are not going to be a
A United Airlines plane sits parked at a gate at San Francisco International Airport on March 06, 2020 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Check out the companies making headlines after the bell. United Airlines — Shares of the airline rose 3% after the market closed. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that
Carson Block Anjali Sundaram | CNBC Carson Block’s Muddy Waters Research announced Wednesday it has taken a short position in eHealth Inc., which owns a digital health insurance exchange. Block, the firm’s founder, disclosed the position on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.“ Muddy Waters argues eHealth, with a stock market value of $3 billion as of Tuesday’s close,
Nuveen Investments unlawfully waged a campaign to pressure banks and broker-dealers to boycott Preston Hollow Capital LLC’s direct lending business as the two competed for high-yield deals, a judge concluded Thursday. The long-awaited decision in Dallas-based PHC’s 2019 lawsuit accusing the Chicago-based investment powerhouse of defamation, anti-trust, and unlawful business interference sided with PHC in
A man buys water, food and toilet paper at a store, as people begin to stockpile essentials over fear that supplies will be affected by the spread of the COVID-19, coronavirus, outbreak across the country, in Los Angeles on Feb. 29, 2020. Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images Consumer prices fell 0.4% in March,
Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, right, speaks beside U.S. President Donald Trump during a Coronavirus Task Force news conference in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Kevin Dietsch | Bloomberg | Getty Images Banks are scrambling to process a growing backlog of applications for the
Chicago won’t dip into asset reserves or push off a pension funding ramp to compensate for the COVID-19 economic hit, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday. “We want to make sure we come out of this experience as strong as possible. What we don’t want to do is something that shrinks government” or undercuts “the city’s
People wearing masks and gloves wait to checkout at Walmart on April 03, 2020 in Uniondale, New York. Al Bello | Getty Images The economy is already in what will be a short, deep recession and even with a spike in unemployment, consumers are expected to continue to spend, according to a National Association for
Thomas Barrack, Executive Chairman and CEO, Colony Capital, participates in a panel discussion during the annual Milken Institute Global Conference at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on April 28, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. Michael Kovac | Getty Images One of President Donald Trump’s closest allies hired a top lobbying firm to advise on challenges related
CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday praised the Federal Reserve‘s latest moves to help keep afloat a U.S. economy that’s been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Before the stock market opened, the Federal unveiled details of its much-anticipated Main Street lending program and other initiatives, a total of $2.3 trillion in loans to help businesses and municipalities.
One of the most crucial events in the lifetime of most cryptocurrencies is its halving event. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) had its much-anticipated halving on Wednesday. BCH had its first block reward halving yesterday, and the event resulted in a rally in the cryptocurrency. After the halving, BCH soared by 15% over the past 24 hours,
The coronavirus pandemic continues to take a rating toll on Illinois as Moody’s Investors Service Thursday revised its outlook to negative from stable. The revision affects Baa3-rated Illinois general obligation debt and sales tax backed Build Illinois bonds, which are already on the lowest investment-grade rating. Also shifted to negative are the junk-level Ba1 ratings
Eddie Rodriguez (R) and other City of Hialeah employees hand out unemployment applications to people in their vehicles in front of the John F. Kennedy Library on April 08, 2020 in Hialeah, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images JPMorgan economists issued an even more dire forecast, now foreseeing a 40% decline in the nation’s gross
An “Open House” sign is displayed in the front yard of a home for sale in Columbus, Ohio. Ty Wright | Bloomberg via Getty Images Consumers are fast losing confidence in this spring housing market, given the economic upheaval from the coronavirus. Higher mortgage rates aren’t helping either. Both combined to cause a 17.9% drop
James Gorman, chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman fell ill with the coronavirus about three weeks ago and has since recovered and been cleared by physicians, according to a company spokesman. The executive remained in charge of Morgan Stanley the entire time he
Detroit is projecting a $100 million deficit in its current budget and painful cuts loom once the public health crisis caused by COVID-19 eases, Mayor Mike Duggan said. “We are going to run a deficit of more than $100 million in this fiscal year that ends June 30. We’ve run balanced budgets year in and
Wholesale gasoline prices are collapsing, a sign that more refineries will cut back or shut down and prices at the pump could sink to under $1 a gallon in more parts of the country, analysts said. In some sections of the Midwest on Wednesday, distributors were getting just about 10 cents for a gallon of
Loan servicers are being slammed by requests from homeowners to delay their monthly mortgage payments as the coronavirus forces millions of people out of work. Yet one of the industry’s top regulators vehemently denies that those servicers need any help. Top industry leaders are fighting back in an escalating war of words that could have a
The Federal Reserve is lifting the asset cap it has imposed on Wells Fargo so the bank can participate in the government’s small business lending program. In a move that was expected, the central bank said Wells will have to return proceeds it gets from the Payment Protection Plan and a coming Main Street lending
The crypto space has been quite volatile over the past weeks, but holders of Ethereum (ETH) are, no doubt, quite pleased with the latest turn of events. Ether, the actual cryptocurrency of the network, has recorded its biggest jump in 20 days, and it seems likely that there is going to be a lot of
Rest of the best Swap Financial Group LLC moved up six spots to sixth place with $2.68 billion; Kaufman Hall & Associates Inc., improved four spots with $2.17 billion; RBC Capital Markets moved up one place with $1.57 billion; Municipal Capital Markets Group Inc., was outside the top 30 a year ago and this year
Charging Bull Statue is seen at the Financial District in New York City, United States on March 29, 2020. Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images The week started with a roar. At the open Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up almost 10% for the week. Investors were positively giddy about three events: 1)
Square payment system Source: Square Check out the companies making headlines after the bell. Pinterest — Shares of the social media company soared 14% in extended trading after Pinterest released preliminary results ahead of its first-quarter earnings call in May. The company expects revenue ranging from $269 million to $272 million in the first quarter. It