LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “The housing market’s in a steady recovery that’s likely to continue.” Neil Dutta, Renaissance Macro Research LLC Article, 1D 30-year mortgages slip to 3.35%
WASHINGTON - The average rate on the U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage last week dipped closer to the lowest on record, a trend that is making home buying more affordable and also enabling more Americans to refinance their loans.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., says the average rate on a 30-year loan declined to 3.35 percent from 3.37 percent last week. That’s not far from the 3.31 percent rate of about a month ago, the lowest on records dating to 1971.
The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 2.65 percent. The record low is 2.63 percent.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.66 percent this year, Freddie Mac said, the lowest annual average in 65 years.
Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., said the average 30-year rate has fallen 0.6 of a percentage point this year. To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for 30-year loans was 0.7 point, unchanged from last week. The fee for 15-year loans was also unchanged at 0.7 point.
The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage ticked down to 2.70 percent from 2.71 percent last week. The fee was also unchanged at 0.7 point.
The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 2.56 percent from 2.52 percent. The fee for one-year adjustable-rate loans rose to 0.5 point from 0.4 point.
- The Associated Press
SeaWorld sets $100 million IPO goal
NEW YORK - The company behind the water shows featuring killer whales, dolphins and other animals at Sea-World on Thursday said it was planning to go public.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. filed for an initial public offering of stock with an initial goal of raising $100 million. That number is likely to change as the company’s bankers gauge interest from investors.
SeaWorld’s owner, Blackstone Group LP, will likely sell some of its stake in the deal. But the private equity firm will still own a majority of the voting power of the company’s shares after the IPO, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
SeaWorld plans to use money from the IPO to pay debt and make a payment to Blackstone.
Blackstone bought SeaWorld from beer brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2009 in a deal worth at least $2.3 billion.
The Orlando, Fla., company did not list a date for the offering. The company also did not say how many shares would be sold, or for how much. SeaWorld plans to use the “SEAS” symbol for its stock, but did not say on which exchange it plans to trade.
Besides the three SeaWorld parks, the company’s eight other properties include two Busch Gardens parks and Sesame Place, which is based on the children’s TV show Sesame Street. SeaWorld said about 24 million people went to its parks in the 12 months through Sept. 30.
In the first nine months of this year, it earned $86.2 million, up 73 percent from $50 million in the same months a year ago. Revenue rose 7.6 percent to $1.16 billion.
- The Associated Press
5 deaths prompt baby-recliner recall
WASHINGTON - Four national retailers agreed to recall more than 150,000 Nap Nanny baby recliners after at least five infant deaths and dozens of reports of children nearly falling out of the recliners, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
The recall covers Nap Nanny Generations One and Two, and the Chill model infant recliners. All were sold between 2009 and 2012. The Nap Nanny was designed to mimic the curves of a baby car seat, elevating an infant slightly to help reduce reflux, gas, stuffiness or other problems.
The commission warned parents and caregivers that the Nap Nanny contains defects in its design, warnings and instructions. The agency said the product poses a substantial risk of injury and death to infants.
The four retailers - Amazon.com, Buy Buy Baby, Diapers.com and Toys R Us/Babies R Us - agreed to voluntarily participate in the recall of the Nap Nanny because its manufacturer is unable or unwilling to participate, the government agency said in a statement.
The manufacturer, Baby Matters LLC of Berwyn, Pa., said earlier this month that it had gone out of business.
Five thousand Nap Nanny Generation One and 50,000 Generation Two models were sold between 2009 and early 2012. About 100,000 Chill models have been sold since January 2011.
The commission advised consumers seeking more information about the recall to review the return policies of the retailers participating in the recall.
- The Associated Press
Apple CEO’s pay decreased from ’11
NEW YORK - Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook got $4.2 million in pay for the latest fiscal year, a modest sum compared with last year, when the company’s board set him up with stock now worth $510 million for taking the reins in 2011.
Cook’s pay for fiscal 2012, which ended in September, consisted of $1.4 million in salary, a bonus of $2.8 million, and $17,000 in company contributions to his 401(k) account and life insurance premiums, according to a filing.
Apple Inc.’s board saw no need to give Cook additional shares in 2012 after the sign-on grant of 1 million shares in 2011. Half of those shares vest in 2016 and the other half in 2021. A lot could happen to the value of the shares before Cook can cash them out, but the sign-on grant made him -at least on paper- the highest-paid U.S. CEO in 2011.
Cook did vest into shares worth $140 million in 2012.
Those shares were granted earlier, when he was chief operating officer. He had been acting CEO for a while before the death of company co-founder Steve Jobs in October of 2011.
Apple tends to grant shares to executives every other year. Cook’s closest cohorts got big grants in 2012, including top hardware engineer Robert Mansfield, who got shares worth $83 million. Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer and general counsel Bruce Sewell both got stock grants worth a little more than $66 million, more than double the value of the grants they got two years ago, reflecting the zooming value of Apple’s stock.
Business, Pages 22 on 12/28/2012