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The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell this week to its lowest level in nearly a year, reflecting a pullback in Treasury yields ahead of an expected interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week.The long-term rate eased to 6.35% from 6.5% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.2%.Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell. The average rate slipped to 5.5% from 5.6% last week. A year ago, it was 5.27%, Freddie Mac said.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.Rates have been mostly declining since late July amid growing expectations that the Fed will cut its benchmark short-term interest rate for the first time this year at the central bank’s meeting of policymakers next week.While the Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, its actions can influence bond investors’ appetite for long-term U.S. government bonds, like 10-year Treasury notes. Lenders use the yield on 10-year Treasurys as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield was at 4% Thursday afternoon.The Fed has kept its main interest rate on hold this year because it’s been more worried about inflation potentially worsening because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs than about the job market.But in a high-profile speech last month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled the central bank may cut rates in coming months amid concerns about weaker job gains following a grim July jobs report, which included massive downward revisions for June and May.More recent job market data have fueled speculation that the central bank could be preparing to lower rates. The Labor Department said last week that the economy added just 22,000 jobs in August. And on Tuesday, revised jobs data from the government showed the U.S. job market had been much weaker last year and this year than earlier data suggested.Meanwhile, the latest weekly snapshot of unemployment benefit claims shows more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication that the number of layoffs could be rising.The housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. Sales have remained sluggish so far this year as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has mostly hovered above 6.5%.The average rate is now at its lowest level since Oct. 10, when it was 6.32%.A similar pullback in rates happened last year in the weeks leading up to the Fed’s interest rate policy meeting in September. That’s when the Fed cut its key interest rate for the first time since March 2020, in the early days of the pandemic. Back then, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage got down to a 2-year low of 6.08%, but soon after climbed again, reaching above 7% by mid-January.Mortgage rates could follow a similar trajectory this time, given that expectations of a Fed rate cut have already brought mortgage rates lower.“We should not expect rates to drop much further, and in fact, there is a possibility that mortgage rates could actually increase after the Fed cut,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS.For now, the recent pullback in mortgage rates has been encouraging to many prospective homebuyers and homeowners eager to refinance.Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, jumped to a three-year high last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.Applications for mortgage refinancing loans made up nearly 50% of all applications last week, as homeowners who bought in recent years when mortgage rates surged seized the opportunity to lower their monthly home loan payment.If mortgage rates continue to ease, home shoppers will benefit from more affordable financing. But lower mortgage rates could also bring in more buyers, making the market more competitive, at a time when sellers across the country are having a tougher time driving a hard bargain. Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
This week has seen a series of initial public offerings from tech companies, including market debuts from the flexible payments fintech Klarna Group and the blockchain lender Figure Technology Solutions. But today is about the food service industry, with Black Rock Coffee Bar expected to make its debut on the Nasdaq after pricing shares on Thursday. Black Rock Coffee Bar will offer 14,705,882 shares of Class A common stock under the ticker BRCB. It will be priced at $20 per share, exceeding its initial prediction of $16 to $18 per share and totaling $294.1 million. Its underwriters have 30 days to buy another 2,205,882 shares of its Class A common stock at a set price of $20 per share. The coffee chains store revenue for the 12 months ending June 30, 2025, was $179 million. A humble origin story Black Rock Coffee Bar started in 2008 in Beaverton, Oregon, as a 160-square-foot drive-thru location. The company has since moved its base to Scottsdale, Arizona, and runs over 150 stores throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. Along with standard coffee and tea, Black Rock Coffee Bar also serves energy drinks and all-day breakfast. The company is an aspiring rival to fellow coffee chains Dutch Bros. and Starbucks. The former has a similar model of prioritizing drive-thrus and had a successful IPO in 2021. At the time, Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) jumped 70% after opening. In January, the company announced its 1,000th location, and its stock this year has outperformed the S&P 500. Meanwhile, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) has seen its stock price drop nearly 10% this year. The worlds largest coffeehouse chain has been struggling to improve its financial picture, recently reporting its sixth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales.
Category:
E-Commerce
Another tech-focused company is going public. On Wednesday, the buy now, pay later firm Klarna Group finally made its public debut, one of a number of high-profile listings to take place this week alone. Now, cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Space Station is expected to begin trading today. Heres what you need to know about Gemini and its initial public offering (IPO). What is Gemini? Gemini Space Station, Inc., better known simply as Gemini, is a cryptocurrency exchange platform. While you may not have heard of Gemini, theres a good chance you know the name of the exchanges founders: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The two twin brothers were immortalized in 2010 film The Social Network, which explored the beginnings of Facebook. After the Winklevoss twins settled their lawsuit with Mark Zuckerberg, the duo became interested in the then-burgeoning world of cryptocurrency. In 2014, after being dissatisfied with other cryptocurrency exchanges, the brothers decided to launch their own. Today, Gemini is one of many global cryptocurrency exchanges, offering investors a platform to buy and sell numerous tokens. But Gemini also offers a selection of other financial services, including a Gemini Credit Card, which lets users earn cryptocurrency rewards for spending on the card. Gemini by the numbers According to the companys most recent amendment to its Form F-1 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Geminis key metrics include: Over $21 billion worth of assets on the platform 1.5 million lifetime transacting users More than 700 employees worldwide Over $830 billion worth of transfers on the platform More than 70,000 credit cards issued Gemini, like most crypto exchanges, primarily monetizes its platform through fees it collects on various transactions. For the year ending December 31, 2023, Gemini says it brought in total revenue of $98.1 million. And for the year ending December 31, 2024, the company says it brought in $142.2 million in total revenue. However, the company still had a net loss for both years. In 2023, the net loss was $319.7 million, and in 2024, the net loss was $158.5 million. Geminis finances before that are been is a bit of a mystery. As the firm notes in its prospectus, it currently qualifies as an emerging growth company, which means it can follow less stringent financial disclosure requirements. As a result, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other companies that are not emerging growth companies, the company states. When is Geminis IPO? Gemini priced its shares on Thursday at $28. It is expected to list its stock today, Friday, September 12. What is Geminis stock ticker? Geminis shares will trade under the ticker GEMI. What exchange will Geminis shares trade on? Gemini shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. What is the IPO share price of GEMI? Geminis shares will begin trading at $28 each. As noted by CNBC, this is well above the share price range Gemini had originally forecast, which was between $17 and $19 apiece. The higher offering price was the result of more demand than originally expected in Geminis shares. How many GEMI shares are available in its IPO? Over 15.1 million shares of Class A common stock are being offered in Geminis IPO. But whats interesting is that this number of shares is actually below the initial planned offering of 16.67 million shares. The reduction is due to the fact that Gemini decided to cap the proceeds of its IPO at $425 million, which Reuters noted is unusual. But due to that cap limitand with shares priced at $28 apieceGemini needed to reduce the amount of shares it offered from its initially planned 16.67 million shares to fewer than 15.2 million. How much will Gemini raise in its IPO? Gemini raised just over $425 million in its IPO. As noted above, this was a limit the company itself set on the proceeds. How much is Gemini worth? with its IPO share price of $28, Gemini is now worth around $3.3 billion, according to CNBC. Gemini is the latest high-profile tech IPO in 2025 Geminis IPO today will be closely watched by Wall Street to see how investors react to the newly listed shares once they begin trading. While theres no predicting which way GEMI shares will move in the days and weeks ahead, Gemini likely does stand to benefit from investor enthusiasm in the crypto and fintech space. The company is far from the only crypto and fintech firm to go public this year. In March, crypto and stock trading platform eToro went public on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Then, in June, Circle Internet Group went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). That offering was followed in August by cryptocurrency exchange Bullishs IPO on the NYSE. However, not all these IPOs have seen their shares rise in the weeks after their listings. As of yesterdays market close, eToros shares are down more than 14% since their debut, according to Yahoo Finance data. Bullish shares have taken a worse beatingdown more than 43%. The story is better for Circle Internet Group, whose shares are up 93% so far. In short, Gemini and its investors are hoping the stock will perform more like Circle. But only time will tell whether that ends up being the case.
Category:
E-Commerce
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