Business news in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There have now been two battery events resulting in smoke less than two weeks apart on two different aircraft. ...The assumptions used to certify the battery must be reconsidered.”

Deborah Hersman, National Transportation Safety Board chairman, on lithium-ion batteries in Boeing 787s Article, 1D

30-year-mortgage rate holds at 3.53%

WASHINGTON - The average U.S. rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was unchanged this week near historic lows, while the average rate on the 15-year loan fell.

Low mortgage rates could help strengthen the housing recovery.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan stayed at 3.53 percent. That’s still near the 3.31 percent rate reached in November, the lowest in records dating to 1971.

The rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage dropped to 2.77 percent from 2.81 percent last week. The record low is 2.63 percent.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac - the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. - 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 ticked up to 0.8 point from 0.7 point last week. The fee for 15-year loans was unchanged at 0.7 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 2.53 percent from 2.59 percent. The fee for one-year adjustable-rate loans declined to 0.4 from 0.5 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 2.63 percent from 2.70 percent last week. The fee remained at 0.6 point.

  • The Associated Press

Fujitsu to restructure, cut 5,000 jobs

TOKYO - Struggling Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu is cutting 5,000 jobs, or nearly 3 percent of its global work force, as it seeks to increase profitability by reshaping its computer-chip business and its overseas operations.

Fujitsu said Thursday the job cuts will be completed by the end of this fiscal year, which is next month, and will rely on early retirement, layoffs and other methods. Details were undecided.

Separately, another 4,500 workers will be shifted to other parts of Fujitsu, including a computer-chip company being set up with Panasonic Corp., another languishing Japanese electronics maker.

Japan’s electronics sector has been floundering, although it’s getting some help recently from the weakening yen.

Last year, Japanese chip-maker Elpida Memory filed for bankruptcy after amassing debts from nose-diving prices and competition from Korean rival Samsung.

SUVs lead China’s surge in auto sales

China’s passenger-vehicle sales surged 49 percent in January to a monthly record, beating analysts’ estimates, as demand for sport utility vehicles almost doubled and Ford Motor Co. extended gains in market share.

Wholesale deliveries, including multipurpose and sport utility vehicles, climbed to 1.73 million units in January, the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Thursday. That compares with the 1.5 million unit average of six analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Toyota Motor Corp. saw sales gain for the first time in seven months and General Motors Co. delivered a record number of vehicles, helped by this month’s week-long Lunar New Year holidays, which last year occurred in January. Growth in China’s total vehicle market, including trucks and buses, will probably accelerate this year and surpass 20 million for the first time on a rebound in economic growth and urbanization, according to estimates by the association last month.

Total sales of vehicles rose 46 percent to 2.03 million units last month, according to the association.

Sales of sport utility vehicles, the fastest-growing segment last year, continued their gains in January, surging 91 percent to 240,700 units. Sedan deliveries gained 49 percent to 1.19 million vehicles.

Business, Pages 28 on 02/08/2013

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