Mortgage rates fell for a seventh consecutive week to the lowest level since December, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage decreased to 6.63% from last week’s reading of 6.76%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.88% a year ago. The 30-year loan saw the largest weekly decline since mid-September, said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. MORTGAGE RATES FALL TO LOWEST LEVEL IN OVER 2 MONTHS “The decline in rates increases prospective homebuyers’ purchasing power and should provide…
Author: Natalia Smirnova
Crypto hedge funds made big bucks last year on the back of a $1.7tn market rally. Tephra Digital, Pythagoras Investments, Eltican Asset Management and Fasanara Digital cashed in on soaring crypto prices last year. US-based Tephra Digital, which is backed by Jefferies’ Leucadia Asset Management, gained 100.2% in 2024, according to people familiar with the matter. The crypto hedge fund has $125m in assets under management. Another US-based crypto hedge fund, Pythagoras Investments’ Absolute Return fund, gained 41.8% last year. The firm’s assets under management stand at $233m, people familiar with the matter said. London-based Eltican Asset Management’s market neutral…
Traditional and cryptocurrency investors eagerly await Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) release in the US, which may provide some relief to inflation-related concerns and increase investor appetite for risk assets, including Bitcoin. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release on March 28 the next PCE report, which measures the inflation of prices US consumers are paying for goods and services. The PCE inflation print may become the “next key catalyst” for Bitcoin BTC$87,430 and other risk assets, according to QCP Group, a Singapore-based digital asset firm.
Red Robin is the latest in a growing number of fast-food eateries planning to shutter underperforming locations following a spate of financial difficulties. The chain on Wednesday announced it is weighing plans to potentially close 70 locations once their lease expires, as it attempts to turn around its operations. The company has already closed one location in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, and recorded a loss of $32.4 million in the quarter in large part from the “review of underperforming restaurants.” The company plans to sell three properties during the first quarter of fiscal 2025. The sale of those…
Domino’s Pizza has officially rolled out stuffed crust in the U.S. The company on Monday announced that customers can now order cheese-filled crust at all locations in the U.S., joining the ranks of pizza chains that already offer it. “One of the most common questions we’re asked is, ‘When will you launch stuffed crust?’ We’re excited to announce that our first-ever stuffed crust is finally here and we promise, it is worth the wait. We think the best stuffed crust was saved for last,” Domino’s Chief Marketing Officer Kate Trumbull said in a statement. Domino’s new Parmesan Stuffed Crust consists…
A non-league football club has finalised an investment deal with two major cryptocurrency investors. Real Bedford FC, currently in the eighth tier of English football, has received £3.5m from Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The team is in discussions to merge with Bedford Town, which is in the seventh tier. Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack bought Real Bedford – then in the 10th tier and called Bedford FC – in January 2022 as part of his plan to grow the town’s football ambitions It was said the investment would be used for the development of a training centre, the launch of…
An officer from the National Crime Agency (NCA) has been charged over the alleged theft of £60,000 worth of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Paul Chowles, 42, from Bristol, is charged with 15 offences relating to the alleged theft of 50 Bitcoin during an investigation into online organised crime in 2017, Merseyside Police said. The force said the Bitcoin would have been worth almost £60,000 at the time of the alleged offences. He faces 11 counts of concealing, disguising or converting criminal property, three counts of acquiring, using or possessing criminal property, and one count of theft. Bitcoin is the biggest and…
Two have been charged after a 75-year-old man from Aberdeenshire lost more than £100,000 in a cryptocurrency fraud. The matter was reported to police in July and officers from the north east division CID travelled to Coventry and Mexborough on Tuesday. With assistance from West Midlands and South Yorkshire Police, officers arrested two men, aged 36 and 54. Both were charged in connection with fraud allegations, and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.
Drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance on Thursday announced that it will go private. The struggling company entered into an agreement with private equity firm Sycamore Partners valued at $10 billion. Sycamore will pay $11.45 per share, a premium of 8% to the stock’s closing price of $10.60 on Thursday. Shares of the company rose nearly 6% in extended trading. Walgreens shareholders could also receive an additional $3 in cash from future monetization of the company’s debt and equity interests in VillageMD. WALGREENS COULD ‘AGGRESSIVELY’ CUT COSTS IF PRIVATELY OWNED, ANALYST SAYS The company’s market value has shrunk to just more…
White House artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto czar David Sacks claimed Thursday that the federal government’s lack of a “long-term strategy” on cryptocurrency has negatively impacted American taxpayers. “Over the past decade, the federal government sold approximately 195,000 bitcoin for proceeds of $366 million. If the government had held the bitcoin, it would be worth over $17 billion today,” he claimed in an X post. “That’s how much it has cost American taxpayers not to have a long-term strategy.” He pointed to calculations by Grok, the xAI-developed AI chatbot, as the source of those figures. xAI is an AI company…
