Mortgage Recast Versus Refinancing: Which Works For You? Authored by Anne Johnson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), If you come into some extra funds, you might want to consider applying them to your mortgage. It’s a great way to pay down the principal or lower your monthly mortgage payment. Lowering your monthly mortgage payment is particularly helpful if you often have cash-flow issues. Willi...
Mortgage Recast Versus Refinancing: Which Works For You? Authored by Anne Johnson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), If you come into some extra funds, you might want to consider applying them to your mortgage. It’s a great way to pay down the principal or lower your monthly mortgage payment. Lowering your monthly mortgage payment is particularly helpful if you often have cash-flow issues. William Potter/Shutterstock There are ways to lower your monthly mortgage by using recasting or refinancing. Each option works differently, so it’s important to understand how they compare. Recasting a Mortgage Mortgage recasting is when you make a lump-sum payment to your principal balance . Once done, your lender then calculates a new, lower monthly payment. Your interest rate stays the same. For example, suppose you owe $250,000 on your mortgage and receive a $50,000 inheritance. If you use all of it to recast your mortgage, your lender will recalculate your monthly payments based on a $250,000 balance, lowering your monthly payment. Refinancing a Mortgage With refinancing a mortgage, you take out a new home loan and use it to pay off the outstanding balance of your existing mortgage. This is often done to secure a lower rate. Typically, the new rate results in a lower monthly payment and less overall cost. Refinancing doesn’t require a lump sum payment toward the principal. Costs of Recasting and Refinancing a Mortgage According to Experian, both recasting and refinancing come with costs. For example, you will be charged an administrative fee for a mortgage recast. This typically runs a few hundred dollars, depending on the lender. Mortgage refinancing has a different cost structure. Closing costs can total two to five percent of the loan amount. Can All Types of Mortgages Be Recast or Refinanced? Conventional loans can be recast, but according to PNC Insights, not all mortgage types are eligible. Government-backed loans, including those from the Federal Housing Administrati...
(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 80 points or 1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,310-point plateau and it's called higher again on Thursday.
(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 80 points or 1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,310-point plateau and it's called higher again on Thursday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, Feb. 5, 2026. Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to confirm that they will not "use taxpayer dollars to bail out cryptocurrency billionai...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, Feb. 5, 2026. Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to confirm that they will not "use taxpayer dollars to bail out cryptocurrency billionaires and other highly leveraged cryptocurrency investors." The Massachusetts Democrat's request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Fed Chair Jerome Powell came as bitcoin continued a slide that has seen the popular cryptocurrency drop about 50% since hitting a high in October. Warren, in a letter to Bessent and Powell about a potential bailout, warned that it not only "would be deeply unpopular to transfer wealth from American taxpayers to cryptocurrency billionaires, it could also directly enrich President [Donald] Trump and his family's cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial ." She noted that both the Treasury Department and the Fed have authorities that empower them to give financial support to banks and other entities during a financial crisis. "Concerningly, at a recent hearing, in an exchange regarding his authority to bail out the cryptocurrency industry, Secretary Bessent was asked whether 'the money of our taxpayers … is … going to be deployed into crypto assets,'" Warren wrote, referring to the secretary's testimony on Feb. 6 to the House Financial Services Committee. "Rather than giving a simple 'no,' he deflected, stating that '[w]e are retaining seized bitcoin,'" Warren wrote. "It's deeply unclear what, if any, plans the U.S. government currently has to intervene in the current Bitcoin selloff." Read more CNBC politics coverage Billionaire Les Wexner's congressional deposition over Jeffrey Epstein ties is underway Trump administration sued for Stonewall Pride flag removal in New York Potomac River sewage spill: Trump says Democrats need to ask for ...
The world’s “most difficult” railway project is taking shape in rugged southwestern China. The line connecting Dali and border town Ruili in Yunnan province is the first to cut through the Hengduan Mountains, traversing some of the world’s most complex geological and topographical terrains. Running along the country’s southwestern frontier for about 330km (205 miles), the railway is expected to bo...
The world’s “most difficult” railway project is taking shape in rugged southwestern China. The line connecting Dali and border town Ruili in Yunnan province is the first to cut through the Hengduan Mountains, traversing some of the world’s most complex geological and topographical terrains. Running along the country’s southwestern frontier for about 330km (205 miles), the railway is expected to boost China’s links with Southeast Asia. The line is being built in two sections: Dali to Baoshan, and...
Where Will Micron Stock Be in 5 Years? Yahoo Finance Prediction: Micron's Stock Could Reach $1,200 by the End of 2026 The Motley Fool Micron Is Spending $200 Billion to Break the AI Memory Bottleneck The Wall Street Journal Micron: The Setup Into 2027 (NASDAQ:MU) Seeking Alpha Why The Micron Stock Meltdown Is Overdue Forbes What's Going On With Micron Stock Tuesday? Benzinga Micron: DDR5 Prices Su...
Where Will Micron Stock Be in 5 Years? Yahoo Finance Prediction: Micron's Stock Could Reach $1,200 by the End of 2026 The Motley Fool Micron Is Spending $200 Billion to Break the AI Memory Bottleneck The Wall Street Journal Micron: The Setup Into 2027 (NASDAQ:MU) Seeking Alpha Why The Micron Stock Meltdown Is Overdue Forbes What's Going On With Micron Stock Tuesday? Benzinga Micron: DDR5 Prices Surge +400% Since September And Could Rise Further In 2026 (NASDAQ:MU) Seeking Alpha Micron’s Massive US$200b Bet On AI Memory Demand And Supply Security Yahoo Finance Micron: Nothing Is Over (NASDAQ:MU) Seeking Alpha
fotoco-istock/iStock via Getty Images With a sell-off in big tech stocks coming along with the current market rotation, we've seen the ratio of the Magnificent Seven stocks to the broader market slip. The average stock in the S&P 500 has outperformed the S&P 500 YTD, which is a rare occurrence in modern markets, which have largely been driven by these massive firms. Annotations by author (YCharts)...
fotoco-istock/iStock via Getty Images With a sell-off in big tech stocks coming along with the current market rotation, we've seen the ratio of the Magnificent Seven stocks to the broader market slip. The average stock in the S&P 500 has outperformed the S&P 500 YTD, which is a rare occurrence in modern markets, which have largely been driven by these massive firms. Annotations by author (YCharts) SA Quant Sours on the Mag 7 This was the first warning sign for me, as SA Quant has turned neutral on the entirety of the Mag 7. Analysts are still largely bullish on these firms—bar Apple ( AAPL ) and Tesla ( TSLA )—but SA Quant has downgraded the lot to a hold for now. Seeking Alpha While it is unclear to me why SA Quant gives the ending grade that it does, since its weights are hidden to the public, we can see the ratings for each component. What is clear is that Quant's largest problem with these stocks is their valuations. Most of them fail on this metric, with Microsoft ( MSFT ) scoring a D- and Amazon ( AMZN ) scoring a D+. That's still failing if we're going by university standards here. Not a good look. Seeking Alpha These tech firms have been heavy for the indexes, as they contribute so much of the weight, accounting for up to 35% of the index among just those 7 stocks, while the rest is split among the other 493 stocks. This is complicated by their high valuations, which disproportionately weigh on the S&P 500. The difference is stark to see when you put it like this: most of the stocks in the S&P 500 have lower forward price-to-earnings ratios than the index has by weight. Since these fast-growing tech giants own so much of the index by weight and have incredibly high expectations placed on them by the market—translating into high P/E ratios—they pull the index valuations up. Duality Research A re-rating here may be a good thing, especially if the bull market is to continue. So far this year, tech, communications, and discretionary firms (basically the sectors ...
The world’s largest human migration, China’s Spring Festival travel rush, could date back more than 2,000 years and reflects the history and development of China’s transport networks. This year’s Spring Festival rush, or chunyun, takes place from February 2 to March 13, and is expected to produce a total of 9.5 billion passenger trips. The chunyun is believed to first appear along with the inventi...
The world’s largest human migration, China’s Spring Festival travel rush, could date back more than 2,000 years and reflects the history and development of China’s transport networks. This year’s Spring Festival rush, or chunyun, takes place from February 2 to March 13, and is expected to produce a total of 9.5 billion passenger trips. The chunyun is believed to first appear along with the invention of the term guo nian, or spending the New Year, in the Zhou dynasty (1046–256). The New Year,...
Ireland ’s corporation tax receipts have become increasingly concentrated with just three multinational companies accounting for almost half of all of the revenue stream in 2024, according the state’s fiscal watchdog. The three companies — two unnamed tech giants and one pharmaceutical firm — accounted for 46% of corporation tax in 2024, or around €13 billion ($15.4 billion), the Irish Fiscal Advi...
Ireland ’s corporation tax receipts have become increasingly concentrated with just three multinational companies accounting for almost half of all of the revenue stream in 2024, according the state’s fiscal watchdog. The three companies — two unnamed tech giants and one pharmaceutical firm — accounted for 46% of corporation tax in 2024, or around €13 billion ($15.4 billion), the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, an independent body set up by the government to hold its finances to account, said in a report Thursday. It underscores just how exposed the Irish economy is to swings in some of the world’s largest companies. For years, the government has acknowledged it needs to widen its tax base, with US President Donald Trump’s vows to re-shore US multinationals’ profits only piling on pressure to find an urgent solution. Corporation tax receipts almost doubled between 2021 and 2024, even when receipts from the Apple Inc. tax judgment of 2024 are excluded. This sharp increase was largely driven by increased payments from the top three payers, the watchdog said, noting the increased risk of more concentrated receipts. “These companies continue to perform strongly, but their profits and the taxes they pay remain subject to significant uncertainty,” Brian Cronin, Economist at the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, said. “As a result, corporation tax receipts could be substantially higher or lower than current levels in the medium term.” Irish Exports See Gains From Obesity Drug Boom Novo Set to Make Wegovy Pill in Ireland for Markets Outside US Ireland Must Build up Fiscal Buffers, Central Bank Chief Says
India’s fast-growing but beaten-down Internet firms are among key picks for the Bandhan Small Cap Fund , which beat 93% of its peers last year betting on deep-value stocks. The $2.1 billion fund has added holdings like Paytm , Info Edge India Ltd. and IndiaMart InterMesh Ltd. in recent months, according to Manish Gunwani , chief investment officer of equities at Bandhan AMC Ltd., which manages mor...
India’s fast-growing but beaten-down Internet firms are among key picks for the Bandhan Small Cap Fund , which beat 93% of its peers last year betting on deep-value stocks. The $2.1 billion fund has added holdings like Paytm , Info Edge India Ltd. and IndiaMart InterMesh Ltd. in recent months, according to Manish Gunwani , chief investment officer of equities at Bandhan AMC Ltd., which manages more than $22 billion. All three firms are losing money for investors this year triggered by doubts over their fast-paced growth and as investors seek comfort of steady earnings growth in large-cap names amid rising global volatility . “We are comfortable buying unpopular value stocks” as long as there is a probability for them to double, Gunwani said in an interview on Tuesday, adding that smaller firms tend to have more room for growth than large caps. Some of these stocks are overcoming regulatory hangovers that have depressed their share prices and “bad news can be an opportunity to accumulate the stock,” he said. Smaller stocks remain challenged. The Nifty Smallcap 100 — the benchmark for Gunwani’s fund — is down 2.7% year-to-date, underperforming the large-cap Nifty 50 by more than a percentage point. It’s far behind the MSCI Asia-Pacific index’s 11% gain. Still, rotation to undervalued shares has been a major markets theme this year, which may help India’s smaller firms gain momentum. The small-cap fund, which holds more than 250 stocks, added about 1.6 million shares of Paytm owner One 97 Communications Ltd. in January as the firm continued to improve profitability, while plans for financial services such as a buy-now-pay-later product build hopes for further gains. READ: Indian Small-Caps Get Bullish Calls After Selloff: Taking Stock The fund’s portfolio is overweight financial services and real estate firms and has been adding in textiles, internet and renewables, while trimming metal shares. Holdings include textile firms Arvind Ltd. and Sanathan Textiles Ltd., yarn...
Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have been witnessing bouts of volatility of late, primarily due to concerns about the significant increase in the capital expenses of tech giants. That's re-ignited fears of a bubble, in addition to worries about the disruption that the adoption of this technology could cause in the software and services sector. However, savvy investors would do well to look at ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have been witnessing bouts of volatility of late, primarily due to concerns about the significant increase in the capital expenses of tech giants. That's re-ignited fears of a bubble, in addition to worries about the disruption that the adoption of this technology could cause in the software and services sector. However, savvy investors would do well to look at the bigger picture. The reason tech giants and AI companies have been spending big bucks on AI infrastructure is the productivity gains this technology is expected to deliver. From automating processes to reducing redundancies to enhancing employee productivity, AI is set to contribute to the global economy in multiple ways. Not surprisingly, market research firm IDC predicts that a dollar spent on AI services could generate $4.90 in value. That's a good reason to take a look at Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) and Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) , two stocks that could help investors capitalize on the growing proliferation of AI and that look like solid buys this month. Continue reading
Dispiriting news from the C-suite overshadowed an estimates-trouncing earnings report from energy company HF Sinclair (NYSE: DINO) on Wednesday. Concerned investors sold out of the company, leaving its shares with a nearly 11% loss in price on the day. Sinclair, which primarily operates as an oil products retailer, announced before market open that CEO and board member Tim Go is taking a voluntary...
Dispiriting news from the C-suite overshadowed an estimates-trouncing earnings report from energy company HF Sinclair (NYSE: DINO) on Wednesday. Concerned investors sold out of the company, leaving its shares with a nearly 11% loss in price on the day. Sinclair, which primarily operates as an oil products retailer, announced before market open that CEO and board member Tim Go is taking a voluntary leave of absence from the company. In his place, the company's board elected its chairperson, Franklin Myers, as interim CEO. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above up to near the 9,100 level, with gains acros
(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above up to near the 9,100 level, with gains acros