Noel Hendrickson/Getty Images After a year full of record-high interest rates and home prices, experts say there are signs of improvement for the housing market in 2024. In December, the average mortgage rates dropped below 7% for the first time since August and after an 8% peak in October, which pushed housing costs to the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said it’s too early for officials to begin thinking about cutting rates as soon as March as they consider whether policy is restrictive enough to get inflation back to 2%. “We aren’t really talking about rate cuts,” Williams said Friday in an interview on CNBC. He
The Spanish town of Marbella, on the country’s south coast, is popular among overseas buyers. Artur Debat | Moment | Getty Images There are three European countries that are “perennial favorites” for people to buy a vacation home, according to Kate Everett-Allen, a partner at real estate firm Knight Frank. France, Italy and Spain all
Citigroup will close its municipal division by the end of the first quarter of 2024, leaving behind a historic tenure in a market it once dominated in both underwriting and secondary market-making. The firm decided to “wind down our municipal underwriting and market-making activities” after a “broad-based review” of its muni business, according to a
Municipals rallied hard Thursday, playing catch up to the moves in U.S. Treasuries, which extended their gains for a second session following the Federal Open Market Committee’s clear communication of future rate cuts in 2024. Equities continued their rally. Triple-A yields fell 13 to 17 basis points, depending on the curve, but the gains were
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. EU leaders agreed to open accession talks with Ukraine at a charged summit on Thursday, after Hungary’s prime minister relented in his opposition to the historic step for the war-torn country. The decision marks
KTSDesign | Science Photo Library | Getty Images It’s arguably the biggest stock story of 2023: a small number of giant technology companies now make up a very large part of big indexes like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100. Five companies (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Alphabet) make up about 25% of the S&P 500. Six
A view of clouds over Manhattan skyline in New York, United States on August 08, 2023. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Manhattan rents fell for the first time in over two years, as the supply of empty apartments grew and renters held out for
Triple-A municipal bond yields fell a few basis points Wednesday following the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates and signal that only three rate cuts were likely in 2024, which sent U.S. Treasury yields plummeting down more than a quarter point on the short end while equities rallied and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. BP said it had dismissed Bernard Looney, its former chief executive, who would forfeit as much as £32.4mn in pay after committing “serious misconduct” related to failing to disclose past relationships with colleagues. Looney stepped
Federal highway officials Wednesday defended the seemingly slow rollout of a high-profile federally funded program to create a national network of electric vehicle chargers. Ohio last week opened what is so far the nation’s first — and only — electric vehicle charging station funded through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. New York is
The Federal Reserve announced it will leave interest rates unchanged Wednesday, in a move that many believe will conclude the central bank’s rate hike cycle and set the stage for rate cuts in the year ahead. The Fed has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2022 — the fastest pace of tightening since the early 1980s. The
An aerial view of existing homes near new homes under construction (UPPER R) in the Chatsworth neighborhood on September 08, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Mario Tama | Getty Images Homeowners looking to refinance are finding savings after mortgage rates dropped again last week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming
Two big Illinois issuers have scheduled refunding deals with planned pricings on Thursday, with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to issue $900 million of series 2024A senior revenue refunding bonds and Chicago’s Midway Airport to sell $393 million of series 2023C senior revenue refunding bonds. Rising interest rates had made refundings thin on the
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Accounting & Consulting services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. KPMG has underscored its position as laggard of the Big Four after it posted the slowest growth in global sales among the accountancy and consulting firms during the latest financial year. The smallest
Municipals were mostly steady to a touch softer in secondary trading while newly upgraded gilt-edged Ohio upsized its general obligation refunding deal and repriced to lower yields. U.S. Treasuries improved on the day following cooler inflation data that many participants said would not move the needle on the Federal Reserve’s rates decision Wednesday. Triple-A yields
Michael Milken attends Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Dinner At Daniel on November 19, 2019 at Daniel in New York City. Paul Bruinooge | Patrick McMullan | Getty Images Famed investor Michael Milken expects the Federal Reserve will move slowly on monetary policy — if history is any guide. In fact, the Milken Institute founder expects the
The East China headquarters of Country Garden is being shown in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China, on October 10, 2023. Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Embattled Chinese real estate developer Country Garden may avoid a default on its yuan-denominated bonds after most holders of a local note agreed not to demand repayment this week, according to Bloomberg
In this article BLK Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Wind turbine blades rotate in the tidal flat in Yancheng city, Jiangsu province, China, November 18, 2023. Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Top global asset managers including BlackRock are among investors in an Asia-focused infrastructure private equity fund that raised $800 million, underscoring growing
In this article HPQ BRK.A Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Warren Buffett tours the floor ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder’s Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. David A. Grogan | CNBC Warren Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its stake in HP to 5.2%, according to a regulatory filing released Monday night. The conglomerate previously had a nine-day