Author: Money Mechanics

A brief roller-coaster ride for mortgage rates caused yet another swing in demand. After dropping to a three-year low two weeks ago, rates then shot right back up again.As a result, total mortgage application volume declined 12.7% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The drop was mostly driven by a pullback in refinancing.Applications to refinance a home loan fell 21% for the week and were 16% higher than the same week one year ago. This, even though mortgage rates were 32 basis points higher last week than the year before.…

(World Oil) – Sable Offshore Corp. is seeking the Trump administration’s help to jumpstart a California oil project stalled by red tape. The Houston-based company’s effort to tap hundred of millions of barrels of crude off the coast of Santa Barbara have been stymied by state regulators’ opposition to reopening pipelines that funnel the crude to refineries. If state approval isn’t forthcoming soon, Sable is prepared to go all-in on a plan to use tanker ships to haul the crude away to other markets, said Chief Executive Officer Jim Flores. It’s “absolutely on Trump’s agenda,” Flores said in an interview.…

HELOC rates have been gradually decreasing throughout the year. Currently, the average home equity line of credit interest rate is 7.75%, according to the analytics company Curinos. That’s a three-basis-point weekly decrease, and rates have fallen by 19 basis points in the past three months. According to Curinos data, the average weekly HELOC rate is 7.75%, its lowest point so far in 2025. This rate is based on applicants with a minimum credit score of 780 and a maximum combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV) of 70%. Homeowners have a huge amount of value tied up in their houses — more than…

Broking giant Aon and fronting specialist Clear Blue Insurance have put their trading relationship first to reach an out of court settlement in relation to a lawsuit over the reinsurance letter of credit (LOC) fraud perpetrated by insurtech Vesttoo, Artemis has been told by a number of market sources.Recall that Clear Blue Insurance had filed a New York state lawsuit against insurance and reinsurance broker Aon back in late 2023, as it looked to recover some of its losses caused by the impacts of the fraudulent activity that occurred. Clear Blue had been negatively impacted by the reinsurance letter of…

Weekly housing inventory data In the past few years, the seasonal peak in our active listings has occurred in October or November, especially when mortgage rates started rising late in the year. However, I noticed some shifts in the housing market mid-June and then mortgage rates fell below 6.64% — a level that has typically led to stronger demand. If we did see the seasonal peak on Aug. 1, 2025, it would be much earlier than in previous years and resembling what we used to see in the pre-COVID-19 era.Last week, inventory fell.  Weekly inventory change (Oct. 3-Oct. 10): Inventory…

narvo vexar/iStock / Getty Images PlusFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Most business leaders struggle to prove the value of AI projects.Success comes down to storytelling, especially with the board.Focus on business outcomes and track your progress carefully.Evidence suggests that many business leaders struggle to prove that an investment in generative AI delivers measurable returns.More than 97% of organizations find it tough to demonstrate the business value of gen AI, according to a survey of 600 data leaders by Wakefield Research on behalf of technology specialist Informatica. Also: OpenAI’s Altman calls AI sector…

Silver futures continue to display a powerful convergence of cyclical, harmonic, and mean-reversion forces that suggest the market is entering the second acceleration phase of its October rally. Trading at $48.46, has rebounded more than $2.00 from the prior low at $46.55, confirming the 30-day cycle bottom projected for the early-October window. The reaction has been swift, and the current setup—supported by the VC PMI, Square-of-Nine harmonics, and extended cycle alignment—indicates potential for a sustained breakout toward $51–$52 in the coming week.The 30-day cycle, represented on the chart by the first concentric harmonic ring, targets October 15–18 as the next…

By David Enna, Tipswatch.com It was inevitable that the trend of lower 5-year real yields would eventually push my I Bond fixed rate protection to 0.90%, down from the current 1.10% for I Bond purchases through this month. The inevitable became fact on Friday, when the Treasury’s estimate of the 5-year real yield closed at 1.30%. As I noted in an October 5 posting, the Treasury has no announced formula for setting the I Bond’s fixed rate, which is permanent for the potential 30-year life of the savings bond. However, I Bond watchers have settled on a forecasting tool that…

Apart from antivirus apps, the cybersecurity industry has traditionally been business to business, with regular internet users left on their own to protect themselves. And older people, who did not grow up with the internet and smartphones, are perhaps the most vulnerable.  ZoraSafe, a startup founded by sisters Catherine Karow and Ellie King Karow wants to step in and help them out. Their idea is to create an app that not only protects older people against scammers and hackers, but also teaches them how to stay safe through gamified microlearning, as Catherine and Ellie told TechCrunch ahead of the TechCrunch…

(BOE Report)– The latest U.S. sanctions on Iranian petroleum exports deal a blow to Chinese refining giant Sinopec by targeting a terminal through which the state major handles one-fifth of its crude oil imports, industry executives and analysts said. The sanctions announced on Thursday further complicate U.S.-China relations, coming ahead of planned talks between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping later this month. The move follows China’s decision to tighten controls on rare earth exports and reflects Washington’s continued efforts to restrict Iran’s oil trade with its largest customer. Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal Co. Ltd, half-owned by a Sinopec…