(Bloomberg) -- U.S. homeowners hurt by coronavirus were told they could delay their mortgage payments without facing consequences. Now, some are learning they’re at risk of being shut out of the housing market.The snafu has been triggered by the hastily drafted $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that Congress passed in March. The law allowed borrowers with government-backed loans to postpone payments for as long as 12 months if they’re dealing with financial hardships stemming from the pandemic. It even specified that mortgage firms must report homeowners in forbearance as being “current” on payments, thus preventing any damage to their credit scores.But the law didn’t address long-standing policies that restrict consumers from getting new loans for a year after their forbearances end. For instance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- the government-controlled companies that facilitate nearly half of U.S. home lending -- won’t buy such mortgages.Some borrowers who took advantage of the relief...
(Bloomberg) -- Oil rose as Saudi Aramco slashed its sales to key buyers and the IEA said that the market is showing signs of improving.Futures in New York added as much as 4.4%. Saudi Aramco cut sales to the U.S. and Europe by about half and reduced supplies to at least 12 customers in Asia for June as OPEC and its allies curb daily output by almost 10 million barrels. The International Energy Agency said the outlook for global oil markets has improved as demand firms.In a sign that output cuts are starting to take hold, key gauges of market strength are rallying. The price difference between Brent’s two nearest contracts have reached their narrowest in almost two months, signalling the oversupply is reducing. Dated Brent, which prices more than two-thirds of the world’s oil, was assessed by S&P Global Platts at $28 a barrel on Wednesday, up almost $10 from...
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia will trim oil shipments to the prized Asian market in June and cut exports even more aggressively to Europe and the U.S., in a possible sop to President Donald Trump and hard-pressed American shale producers.OPEC’s biggest member is seeking to shore up a tentative recovery in crude markets after the coronavirus crushed energy demand and sparked the oil industry’s worst crisis in decades. The Saudis are voluntarily reducing supply to the lowest level in 18 years as they lead a global effort to drain a glut that has dragged down prices by more than half this year.State-producer Saudi Aramco will cut June exports to at least a dozen Asian customers, according to traders notified by the company. Aramco plans even deeper reductions in the amount of crude it will send to the U.S. and Europe, according to people with knowledge of the situation.“It’s politically important to the...
On Wednesday, Allogene (ALLO) revealed positive initial data from its ALLO-501 CD19 allogeneic CAR T, showing both activity and a tolerable safety profile. The news sent shares surging 28% in Wednesday’s after-hours trading.Allogene announced preliminary data from the Phase 1 dose escalation ALPHA trial of ALLO-501 in conjunction with the release of ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) abstracts.As of the January cutoff, 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients achieved complete responses and 4 achieved partial responses, for an ORR [overall response rate] of 78% (n=7/9).“Although early, we believe these data suggest that ALLO-501 could go toe-to-toe with autologous CAR-Ts on performance and safety—setting a new bar for allogeneic CAR-Ts in NHL and underscoring the importance of Allogene’s antibody-dependent approach to lymphodepletion” commented Oppenheimer’s Mark Breidenbach following the report.He anticipates updated results from 11 evaluable patients in the May 29 oral presentation at ASCO—including patients treated with high-dose ALLO-647, which may further improve efficacy.As a...
