Solar Bankruptcies Show US Clean Energy Industry Is Teetering on the Brink
The latest domino to fall is residential solar company Sunnova Energy International Inc., which filed for bankruptcy early Monday. Its demise follows the Chapter 11 filing last week of Solar Mosaic LLC, one of the biggest lenders in the rooftop solar market.
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Fed Found Over 22,000 Mortgages Like Those Pulte Is Flagging
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump and his allies are demanding Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook resign over alleged owner-occupancy fraud — a practice the central bank itself has found to be 'broad-based' across the US. Philadelphia Fed researchers in a 2023 report assessed the number of 'fraudulent investors' in the mortgage market, which they defined as those who had more than one owner-occupied home purchase loan within four quarters after the first one was originated. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has said that Cook took a mortgage on a property in Ann Arbor, Michigan, stipulating that it would be her primary residence, and then two weeks later declared the same for another mortgage on a Georgia property. Why New York City Has a Fleet of New EVs From a Dead Carmaker Trump Takes Second Swing at Cutting Housing Assistance for Immigrants Chicago Schools Seeks $1 Billion of Short-Term Debt as Cash Gone A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome The paper's data set consists of 584,499 loans made from 2005 to 2017. Of those, 22,431 were considered fraudulent. The share of those claiming occupancy for better mortgage terms peaked ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, though remained steady for much of the ensuing decade at about 2% to 3%. The findings are based on a subsample of data, meaning the number of mortgages fitting the central bank's criteria could be higher. The researchers also caution that there are likely cases of accidental occupancy fraud, such as when borrowers were unable to sell their original home because of a worse-than-expected real estate market. Scrutinizing the mortgages of Cook, who was nominated to the Fed by former President Joe Biden, appears to be the latest way in which Trump and his allies are using novel methods to pressure the central bank to lower interest rates. The president said Wednesday that Cook 'must resign now,' while Pulte claimed his accusations give him 'cause to fire' her. If she were forced out, it would create another opening for Trump to appoint someone who would likely push for more aggressive rate cuts. Pulte said 'anybody can go look at these public documents' from Cook in a CNBC interview Wednesday. He cited four criminal statutes for Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe for potential charges. No charges have been filed and it's not clear whether she will investigate. Ronel Elul, a senior economic adviser and economist at the Philadelphia Fed who co-authored the 2023 report, didn't elaborate beyond what was in the paper when reached for comment. The Fed declined to comment. Cook, in a statement Wednesday, said she has 'no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet.' She added that she is 'gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.' David Joffe, a federal criminal defense attorney in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said in his experience, occupancy cases are rare. Still, 'like anything else, if you look at it under a microscope you're bound to find something that's wrong,' he said in an interview. Mortgage fraud cases tend to relate to overstating assets and income rather than misstating a primary residence, said Stephen Cazares, a former federal prosecutor who's now a defense lawyer at Foundation Law Group. Those based solely on a home being falsely identified as a primary residence are 'unusual' but 'not unheard of,' he said. They're rare because the theoretical loss to a financial institution is lower in cases based on primary residence, where the lender 'basically got cheated out of a higher interest rate' rather than the value of the home, Cazares said. The Philadelphia Fed report found that about a third of all property investors misrepresent their status as owner-occupants. It found that doing so allowed them to obtain lower interest rates and higher loan-to-value ratios. 'This type of fraud is difficult to detect until long after the mortgage has been originated,' the researchers said in their paper. Cook's mortgages in question were from 2021. Trump's administration has also made mortgage fraud allegations against California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Both are Democrats and political foes of Trump. --With assistance from Erik Larson. (Updates with Cook statement starting in ninth paragraph.) Foreigners Are Buying US Homes Again While Americans Get Sidelined What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Women's Earnings Never Really Recover After They Have Children Survived Bankruptcy. Next Up: Cultural Relevance? Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
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Masimo sues US Customs over approval of Apple Watch imports
By Blake Brittain WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Medical monitoring technology company Masimo sued U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday over a decision by the agency that allowed Apple to import Apple Watches with blood-oxygen reading technology during a patent dispute between the companies. Masimo said in the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., federal court that Customs improperly determined that Apple can import watches with pulse oximetry technology, reversing its own decision from last year without notifying Masimo. Masimo told the court that it learned of the agency's August 1 decision only after Apple announced it would reintroduce blood-oxygen reading to its watches last week. Spokespeople for Apple and Customs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Masimo spokesperson declined to comment. Irvine, California-based Masimo has accused Apple of hiring away its employees and stealing its pulse oximetry technology to use in its Apple Watches. Masimo has separately sued Apple for patent infringement and trade secret theft in ongoing federal court cases. Masimo convinced the U.S. International Trade Commission to block imports of Apple's Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches in 2023 based on a determination that Apple's technology for reading blood oxygen levels infringed Masimo's patents. Apple has continued to sell Customs-approved redesigned watches without pulse oximetry since the ITC's decision. Apple said on Aug. 14 that it would reintroduce its smartwatches' blood-oxygen reading capabilities with approval from Customs. Masimo said the agency's decision to approve the watches without input from Masimo or any "meaningful justification" deprived the company of its rights. "CBP's function is to enforce ITC exclusion orders, not to create loopholes that render them ineffective," Masimo said. Masimo asked the Washington court to halt the agency's ruling and continue to block Apple from selling watches with the blood-oxygen feature. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Why Medtronic Stock Raced Higher Today
Key Points Investors traded out of the company the previous day following its latest earnings release. The stock came roaring back on Hump Day, however. 10 stocks we like better than Medtronic › A clutch of post-earnings price target increases by analysts helped raise Medtronic's (NYSE: MDT) stock at a healthy rate on Wednesday. The sturdy medical device specialist's shares rose by almost 4% on the day as a consequence, a rate that looked especially good next to the S&P 500's (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) 0.2% drop. Healthy raises Following a trend that began Tuesday after Medtronic published its first quarter of fiscal 2026 figures. The company posted revenue growth of 8% (to almost $8.6 billion), and improved non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) adjusted net income by 2% to slightly over $1.6 billion. Both headline numbers beat the consensus analyst estimates, albeit not by much. The market, which collectively loves a crushing beat on analyst estimates, basically shrugged at this. Many investors traded out of Medtronic that day. The sun was shining brighter on Wednesday thanks to that series of price target bumps. By my count, seven analysts tracking the stock upped their fair-value assessments. Among these were pundits at such financial industry heavyweights as Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, and international bank UBS. Positive moves from cautious pundits I should note that in all cases, those price target raises were incremental. Nevertheless, the raising analysts frequently sounded bullish notes on Medtronic's prospects. One example was Leerink Partners' Mike Kratky, who only added $1 per share for a new level of $111, but maintained his outperform (read: buy) recommendation. According to reports, Kratky praised several elements of the company's operations, particularly its cardiac ablation solutions unit. Less positively, the analyst wrote that Medtronic suffered from weakness in its domestic sales. Should you invest $1,000 in Medtronic right now? Before you buy stock in Medtronic, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Medtronic wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $654,781!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,076,588!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,055% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2025 Wells Fargo is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Medtronic and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $75 calls on Medtronic and short January 2026 $85 calls on Medtronic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Medtronic Stock Raced Higher Today was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
