Rates for fixed mortgages slip lower
WASHINGTON -- Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages declined this week for a third straight week. The low rates could give a boost to the spring home-buying season, which has gotten off to a slow start.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year loan eased to 4.20 percent from 4.21 percent last week. The average for the 15-year mortgage fell to 3.29 percent from 3.32 percent.
Mortgage rates have risen nearly a full percentage point since hitting record lows about a year ago.
Warmer weather has yet to boost home-buying as it normally does. Rising prices and higher rates have made affordability a problem for would-be buyers. And many homeowners are reluctant to list their properties for sale.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday 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 a 30-year mortgage was unchanged from a week earlier at 0.6 point. The fee for a 15-year loan also remained at 0.6 point.
-- The Associated Press
Chinese banks report rise in bad loans
Chinese banks had the biggest quarterly increase in bad loans since 2005 as a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy causes defaults to rise.
Nonperforming loans rose by $8.7 billion in the three months through March to $103 billion, the highest level since September 2008, according to data released Thursday by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. Bad loans accounted for 1.04 percent of total lending, up from 1 percent three months earlier.
The 10th-straight quarterly increase in defaults adds to concern that banks' profitability may slip as they build buffers to cover loan losses. Policymakers have also been cracking down on financing to weaker borrowers to rein in total debt that has climbed to more than double the nation's gross domestic product.
"Asset quality is now the biggest overhang on the banking sector," Rainy Yuan, a Shanghai-based analyst at Masterlink Securities Corp., said by phone. "The government's reluctance to use stimulus and ease monetary policy has made it difficult for many borrowers to repay debt."
-- Bloomberg News
Internet firms told to cull malicious ads
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate warned Google, Yahoo and other leading technology companies Thursday they need to better protect consumers from hackers exploiting their lucrative online advertising networks or risk new legislation that would force them to do so.
In a new investigative report, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said hackers in some cases are infecting computers using software or programming commands hidden inside online advertisements. It suggested tougher U.S. regulations or new laws that could punish the ad networks in addition to prosecuting the hackers.
The subcommittee highlighted a December 2013 incident in which an Internet user visited a mainstream website and had all of her personal information stolen via an ad on Yahoo's network. Even worse: She didn't have to click on it to deliver a virus that gobbled up her information. And as many as 2 million others may have been exposed to the attack.
The online advertising industry has grown complicated "to such an extent that each party can conceivably claim it is not responsible when malware is delivered to a user's computer through an advertisement," the Senate report said.
-- Bloomberg News
Barclays error said to spur stock swings
A trading error at Barclays PLC this week caused split-second swings in dozens of U.S. stocks including AOL Inc. and Caterpillar Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
Barclays moved the prices of some shares on Tuesday after orders tied to the close of trading were incorrectly entered, causing the transactions to be executed immediately, the people said. Barclays clients weren't affected financially by the error, according to one person, who asked to not be identified because the details haven't been made public.
Kerrie Cohen, a spokesman for London-based Barclays, declined to comment.
According to Winnetka, Ill.-based Nanex LLC, which tracks trading disruptions, at least 28 stocks were affected, with AOL moving the most: a decline of 11 percent. Within a second, prices largely returned to where they'd been before the error.
After reviewing the situation, stock exchanges canceled some AOL transactions.
Erroneous equity orders and their effect on markets have received heightened scrutiny since Knight Capital Group Inc. was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy when a computer program went haywire and bombarded exchanges with orders in August 2012.
Caterpillar, which had been trading around $107.12, jumped to an intraday high of $108.21 within a second at 2:49 p.m. on May 13, before sinking back to where it had been. More than $11 million worth of shares changed hands at the elevated levels, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. AOL sank to $32.77, a new low for the day, from around $36.85 at about the same time as about $10 million of shares changed hands. Prices also quickly snapped back.
-- Bloomberg News
EPA proposes refinery emission rules
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed changes to oil refinery rules that would compel operators to monitor benzene emissions, upgrade storage tank emission controls, ensure waste gases are properly destroyed and adopt new emission standards for delayed coking units.
The move is part of a consent decree that resolved a lawsuit filed by nonprofit environmental attorneys with Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project on behalf of people directly affected by pollution from refineries in Louisiana, Texas and California.
The EPA will accept comments on the proposals for 60 days. It also plans to hold two public hearings near Houston and Los Angeles, and will finalize the standards in April 2015.
The agency said the proposals would reduce toxic air emissions by an estimated 5,600 tons per year.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 05/16/2014