Robin Energy stock surges on strong LPG vessel charter rates

Investing.com -- Synchronoss Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SNCR) stock surged 63.6% Thursday after Lumine Group announced it would acquire the company in an all-cash transaction.

Under the agreement, Lumine Group will purchase Synchronoss for approximately $116.4 million, representing $9.00 per share. The deal values Synchronoss at an enterprise value of approximately $258.4 million and is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to shareholder approval and regulatory clearances.

The acquisition will include Synchronoss’ white-label Cloud platform and next-generation consumer cloud offering. This transaction follows Lumine Group’s 2023 acquisition of Synchronoss’ Messaging and NetworkX businesses and completes Synchronoss’ multi-year transformation to streamline its portfolio.

"We are thrilled to join forces with Lumine Group in this transformative partnership," said Jeff Miller, CEO of Synchronoss. "After three years of collaboration and witnessing firsthand how our former businesses have flourished under Lumine Group’s stewardship, we believe this to be the logical and correct home for our business."

Synchronoss, founded in 2000, has evolved from service activation solutions to a portfolio centered on operator-branded personal cloud services. The company currently manages over 200 petabytes of data with millions of engaged subscribers globally.

Tony Garcia, COO of Lumine Group, indicated that Synchronoss will continue to operate under its original brand to maintain alignment with its target markets. The acquisition marks Lumine Group’s first purchase of a public company.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com – Morocco stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Banking, Beverage and Transport sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Casablanca, the Moroccan All Shares added 0.08%.

The best performers of the session on the Moroccan All Shares were Afriquia Gaz (CSE:GAZ), which rose 4.98% or 199.00 points to trade at 4,199.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Managem (CSE:MNG) added 3.21% or 189.00 points to end at 6,069.00 and SMI (CSE:SMI) was up 2.68% or 75.00 points to 2,875.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Involys (CSE:INV), which fell 4.24% or 9.75 points to trade at 220.00 at the close. Fenie Brossette (CSE:FBR) declined 2.63% or 10.95 points to end at 406.00 and CTM (CSE:CTM) was down 2.57% or 24.00 points to 910.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Casablanca Stock Exchange by 31 to 20 and 8 ended unchanged.

Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.08% or 0.05 to $59.00 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $62.70 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.11% or 4.80 to trade at $4,227.70 a troy ounce.

EUR/MAD was up 0.07% to 10.78, while USD/MAD rose 0.14% to 9.24.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 98.89.

Investing.com -- 2026 will likely be another difficult year for US homebuilders as weak demand drivers, rising supply and expensive valuations will keep pressure on earnings after the sector lagged the S&P 500 in 2025.

JPMorgan analysts have a cautious stance on the group downgrading Lennar and Century Communities, though they upgraded Toll Brothers.

The builders underperformed through most of 2025 as affordability stayed near 30-year lows, mortgage rates remained restrictive for buyers and inventory levels increased.

The group’s 2% drop this year compared with a 16% gain in the S&P was due to soft orders, shrinking margins and falling earnings. While the sector saw brief rallies tied to shifting rate expectations, demand failed to improve meaningfully because consumer confidence remained depressed.

JPMorgan expects key demand drivers to stay weak next year, forecasting little to no job growth through the first half of 2026.

The 10-year Treasury yield will rise to 4.35% by the end of 2026 from about 4.05% which is now. It will limit the scope for mortgage rate relief.

JPM said affordability remains severely stretched and expects only minimal volume growth for builders, likely at the cost of further margin pressure.

Supply has stabilized in recent months but sits well below historical norms, and JPMorgan expects an “unlock” in the mortgage market to gradually push inventory higher.

The share of homeowners with sub-4% mortgage rates has been falling steadily as the market turns over, a trend the bank believes will release more existing homes into the market in 2026. Builder spec inventories also remain elevated at several large companies.

Brokerage expects builder orders and closings to remain weak, with downside risk to its forecasts for 8% order growth and 3% closing growth next year.

It also sees potential pressure on its gross margin estimate of 20.7%, which already marks another year of contraction. JPMorgan forecasts only 3% EPS growth across its coverage in 2026 and said investors may remain cautious until there is more clarity on the earnings trough.

Valuations remain expensive relative to the bank’s expectations for fundamentals in 2026. The group trades at about 11.8 times JPMorgan’s 2026 earnings estimate compared with a mid-cycle range of 8 to 9.

JPMorgan upgraded Toll Brothers to overweight from neutral, citing a cheaper valuation than peers and expectations for above-average margins and returns through 2027. It raised price target to $161 from $138.

Brokergae kept PulteGroup at overweight and lifted its target to $149 from $136.

Lennar was cut to underweight from neutral, with JPMorgan flagging weaker margins, lower returns and a valuation it sees as stretched relative to peers. The bank trimmed its price target to $115 from $118. It maintained its underweight on D.R. Horton and raised the target to $136 from $130.

Century Communities, which is a smaller builder was downgraded to underweight from neutral, with the bank cutting its target to $56 from $62 on expectations of below-average margins and returns.

JPM kept its underweight on LGI Homes and held its target at $40. Taylor Morrison remained the lone overweight among small caps.

Investing.com -- Figure Technology Solutions Ltd (NASDAQ:FIGR) stock jumped 5.1% Thursday after the blockchain-native capital marketplace announced the launch of a real-world asset (RWA) consortium that will expand access to over $1 billion in monthly on-chain loan originations, starting on Solana.

The consortium represents a coordinated effort by leading crypto platforms to support and drive adoption of PRIME, a liquid staking token built on the Hastra liquidity protocol. PRIME is powered by the Democratized Prime decentralized lending protocol on Provenance Blockchain, allowing users to lend against pools of tokenized Figure RWA loans.

"We’re democratizing access to institutional lending markets," said Mike Cagney, Founder and Executive Chairman of Figure. "For the first time, a DeFi user with $100 can participate in the same loan pools as major financial institutions, earning yields from real lending activity with full transparency and instant liquidity."

The RWA Consortium includes strategic partners such as Kamino Finance, Chainlink, CASH, Raydium, Privy, and Gauntlet, each playing specific roles in delivering the framework for the PRIME token on Solana. This initiative follows the recent debut of Hastra, a liquidity protocol incubated by Figure and Provenance Blockchain.

Figure has originated over $19 billion in on-chain loans to date and claims a 70% market share in RWA private credit. The company is extending beyond Provenance Blockchain to integrate with Layer 1 networks like Solana, leveraging Chainlink CCIP for cross-chain interoperability.

The consortium will focus on community engagement, education, and adoption through reward programs and events, including an RWA experience at the upcoming Solana Breakpoint conference.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.