Business news in brief

Corn futures below $4, unseen since '10

Corn futures dropped below $4 a bushel Wednesday for the first time in four years on bets that rain will increase yields for crops in the U.S., the world's biggest grower. Soybeans extended the longest slump since 2009.

Forecasts for cooler and wet weather in the Corn Belt over the next week will favor plants, said Bethesda, Md.-based Commodity Weather Group. The showers and mild temperatures are improving the outlook for U.S. production, already forecast by the government to reach a record for a second straight season.

A bumper haul for U.S. crops will add to global stockpiles before the 2015 Northern Hemisphere harvest rises to the highest since 2000, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Soybean inventories will probably jump to a record, according to the average analyst estimate. Bigger crops are helping to keep a lid on world food inflation, with the United Nations reporting a third monthly drop in prices in June.

On the Chicago Board of Trade, corn futures for December delivery fell 1.2 percent to $3.9925 at 8:55 a.m., after touching $3.9875, the lowest since July 2010. The grain entered a bear market last week.

-- Bloomberg News

Southwest flies fuller; revenue figure up

DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines Co. said Wednesday that a key revenue figure rose sharply in June, which hinted that the carrier was able to charge higher average fares at the start of the summer travel season.

Southwest, which also operates AirTran Airways, said that passenger revenue for every seat flown one mile jumped by 7 percent to 8 percent last month, compared with June 2013. For the April-June quarter, the figure grew more than 8 percent, the company said.

The closely watched revenue statistic increases when average fares rise and airlines fill more seats.

Dallas-based Southwest said that traffic rose 2.2 percent as passengers flew 10.07 billion miles last month. That outstripped an increase of 0.9 percent in capacity, resulting in fuller planes. The average flight was 86.1 percent full, compared with 85 percent in June 2013.

Shares of Southwest rose 51 cents, or 1.9 percent, to close Wednesday at $27.21. They began the day up 42 percent in 2014.

-- The Associated Press

Greek bond to be 2nd in market re-entry

ATHENS, Greece -- Bailed-out Greece said Wednesday that it will tap bond markets again soon, building on its success in April to return to debt markets after a forced four-year absence because of its financial turmoil.

Borrowing rates have dropped recently for many European countries, including Greece, making this a good time for the country to raise money and re-establish a presence in bond markets as it emerges from a brutal six-year economic recession.

The Finance Ministry said in a statement a new three-year bond "is expected to be launched and priced in the near future, subject to market conditions."

The country was frozen out of bond markets in 2010, when investors became spooked by its huge debt levels, and was saved from bankruptcy by an international bailout.

Its first bond issue since then, a five-year note auctioned in April, raised $4.14 billion with a 4.75 percent coupon. The cost for the new three-year note is expected to be lower, as the issue is shorter-term.

-- The Associated Press

Lake Charles Port traffic seen doubling

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- Port of Lake Charles officials said vessel traffic is expected to increase by more than 50 percent over the next five years and double within the decade.

The American Press reported the port released the second of three reports Tuesday during a Harbor and Safety Committee meeting, studying the current and future projections of traffic on the Calcasieu Ship Channel.

The major find of the study is that the ship channel can handle the additional vessels but that dredging and channel widening are necessary.

With more than $67 billion worth of projected capital investments in southwest Louisiana, half of those investments correlate with the port. The influx of channel use is attributed to expanded operations of existing terminals and the construction of several proposed facilities.

-- The Associated Press

State Farm hurricane deductible now 5%

BATON ROUGE -- One month into the hurricane season, State Farm's 308,000 Louisiana homeowner's customers are confronting an unpleasant change: Their policies now include a mandatory 5 percent hurricane deductible.

State Farm spokesman Gary Stephenson told The Advocate the hurricane deductible was included on new policies in November and added to existing customers as they've renewed their policies on or after Dec. 1. Most policies had had a 2 percent hurricane deductible.

The mandatory hurricane deductible accompanied an average statewide rate increase of close to 9 percent on premiums policyholders pay for insurance. The increase averages 9 percent in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, 7.5 percent in East Baton Rouge, and 9.4 percent in Lafayette, according to the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

-- The Associated Press

U.K. fraud probers question Airbus staff

Airbus Group NV said the U.K. Serious Fraud Office questioned employees in connection with an investigation of possible corruption at a satellites unit.

"Airbus Group understands that four former and current employees were recently interviewed -- along with MOD officials -- as part of a wide ranging SFO investigation into subsidiary GPT," a spokesman said by email, referring to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

The Serious Fraud Office said a search warrant had been executed "and a number of arrests have been made," according to a separate release. The office didn't identify Airbus by name.

Britain's fraud investigation unit has been looking into the activities of an Airbus Group unit known as GPT Special Project Management Ltd. for several years, in connection with the award of a $3.3 billion contract for communications and intranet services for the Saudi National Guard. Paradigm Services, the division that supplies satellite services in the U.K., bought the operations in 2007.

-- Bloomberg News

Business on 07/10/2014

Upcoming Events