Daily News 4/24/15
April 24, 2015
Friday – April 24
Radian Group Inc. is rolling out a new type of insurance, which is also an industry first: a policy to provide relief if a borrower loses their job. The company will be offering such a policy to those borrowers who put down less than 5% of the price of their homes. The policy will pay up to as many as six months of mortgage payments on new mortgages, for up to $9,000. It does, however, have a stipulation that it would have to be within the first two years of the mortgage.
The highly anticipated Apple Watch, Apple’s first new device in five years, is now on sale in stores. But just walking into an Apple store doesn’t guarantee that you will be able to scoop up the watch, which ranges from $349 to $17,000 (for a gold version). Apple stores are only showcasing the device with a few selected high end retailers actually selling it at their stores. Apple is urging loyal customers to order online.
In economic news, Durable Goods Orders surged in March rising by 4%, which was well above the 0.5% expected. But the big increase was led mostly by big gains in sales of vehicles and aircrafts. Within the report it showed that non defense capital goods fell by 0.5%, which is a key metric of business spending. In addition, orders decreased for machinery and primary metals, which could be attributed to the strong dollar for those multi-national US companies doing business abroad.