Author: Mary Waters | Lending Agent
A household now needs to make six figures to afford a median-priced home in the U.S. That’s according to a Realtor.com analysis released Thursday, which found that the income required to affordably purchase a home listed at the median price has risen 70.1% since 2019, from $67,000 to the current level of $114,000. The median listing price was $431,250 nationally in April, according to Realtor.com. The $114,000 needed to afford that home assumes a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, a 20% downpayment and no more than 30% of gross monthly income spent on housing. The real estate listings company noted that “the…
While the S & P 500 and Nasdaq 100 remain languishing below their 200-day moving average, shares of Coca-Cola Co. (KO) are close to completing a bullish price pattern which suggest much further upside potential. The daily chart of KO displays a fairly straightforward “cup with handle” pattern, formed by a long rounded bottoming pattern followed by a short-term pullback. The key to this pattern is that the rim of the cup as well as the handle are all around the same price level. In this case, each of those points have hit in the $73-74 range. This bullish pattern…
Microsoft ‘s breakout rally after a stellar earnings report is warranted, but investors shouldn’t expect the same to hold true for every other Big Tech company, according to Josh Brown . Microsoft’s earnings “made everyone in every Nasdaq stock feel better given how much is riding on this continued capex boom supporting the current valuations in the space. So, look, this is an extraordinary comeback — it’s a magnificent company,” Brown told CNBC’s “Halftime Report” on Thursday. “I think it’s a little bit dangerous to look around and say, ‘Oh, there are probably 500 other Microsofts.’ There aren’t going to…
Goldman Sachs named pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to its “U.S. Conviction List – Directors’ Cut” of the most recommended stocks for May. One other stock was added to the list at the same time one was removed from the monthly assemblage. The Wall Street investment bank released the May update to its conviction list on Thursday. In total, the list now features 22 stocks, ranging across the consumer, financial and telecommunications industries, including AT & T , Bank of America and Uber Technologies. Meritage Homes was deleted from the Goldman select list, even as the bank continues to rate…
(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Today we are highlighting Spotify (SPOT) , the Netflix of music because it is dominant, defensive and growing. Spotify has been on our list for 26 weeks. There are 20 stocks in the communication sector that trade on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of $10 billion or greater. Spotify has the best return year-to-date out of all 20, up more than 34%. It’s also the second-best performer the past year, up 108%, following Reddit…
Starbucks’ new CEO said the company is making progress on its turnaround plan. However, Brian Niccol, now almost 8 months into his new role, acknowledged, “I’d be remiss if I don’t first just mention the hard fact in front of us, which is our Q2 2025 financial results were disappointing. The thing I want you to know is behind the scenes, we really are showing a lot of signs of progress.” Why were the results disappointing? Earnings missed consensus estimates by 4 cents a share, or more than 15%. U.S. comparable sales declined by 2%, far worse than the modest…
Big Tech companies are continuing to spend on artificial intelligence infrastructure and data center buildouts, quieting concerns about their growth and reviving investor sentiment in other parts of the AI market. Quarterly results from Microsoft and Meta released on Wednesday indicated that both giants are maintaining their AI spending plans despite the threat of tariffs, which could raise costs for data center parts that come from overseas. Wall Street cheered the results as both stocks rallied. “Contrary to investors’ worries of slowing capex, it appears that spending for AI continues to be unabated,” Citi analyst Christopher Danely wrote in a…
rSnapshotPhotos/Shutterstock Key takeaways If you got your FHA loan after the year 2000, you may be able to cancel your FHA mortgage insurance. If you got your loan before 2000, you’ll continue to pay the premiums in most cases. If your loan doesn’t qualify for automatic cancellation, refinancing is the best way to eliminate MIP. Loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, or FHA loans, require borrowers to pay FHA mortgage insurance premiums (MIP). These are additional fees borrowers pay both up front and over the course of the mortgage term, regardless of the down payment amount. Eliminating these premiums…
Amid a volatile market, Jefferies is taking a contrarian position on some stocks. The S & P 500 ended April down 0.8% after several dramatic swings that followed President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs rollout on April 2. Companies have been scrambling to deal with the effect on their supply chains, and investors are looking to assess the fallout. Jefferies highlighted some of the stocks where its view is outside the mainstream compared with the rest of Wall Street. Here are some of the names on the list: Three of the stocks on the firm’s list are consumer names: e.l.f. Beauty…
Key takeaways FHA loans and conventional loans are both issued by private lenders, but FHA loans are insured by the federal government, and conventional loans are not. Due to their federal backing, FHA loans have more lenient criteria, so they’re better suited for borrowers with lower credit scores. Conventional loans require a higher credit score and stronger financials, but also come with lower costs, less stringent home appraisals and cancellable mortgage insurance. If you’re getting ready to buy a house, you have a lot of decisions to make. The same way that you can explore types of properties, you can…