Average 30-year mortgage up to 4.58%
WASHINGTON -- Long-term U.S. mortgage rates continued to climb this week, reaching their highest level in more than four years and denting prospective home purchasers' prospects amid the spring buying season.
It was the third-straight week of increases for long-term mortgage rates. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac -- the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. -- said Thursday that the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages jumped to 4.58 percent from 4.47 percent last week. By contrast, the benchmark rate averaged 4.03 percent a year ago.
The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate loans rose to 4.02 percent from 3.94 percent last week.
Spiking interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds, driven by rising commodity prices that boosted inflation expectations, helped lift long-term mortgage rates to their highest level since August 2013.
People shopping for homes are dealing with higher mortgage costs and fewer properties for sale. Rising rates could further erode inventories as existing homeowners renovate homes rather than put them up for sale to avoid a more expensive mortgage that would come with a new house.
-- The Associated Press
Amazon raises annual Prime fee to $119
NEW YORK -- Amazon is raising the price of its annual Prime membership fee by 20 percent starting next month.
The company said Thursday that Prime members in the U.S. will now pay $119 a year, up from $99, starting May 11 for new members. The new price will apply to renewals of existing members starting on June 16.
The last time it raised the annual fee was in four years ago. Earlier this year, it increased the monthly rate to $12.99 a month from $10.99.
-- The Associated Press
N.C. hog farm's neighbors awarded $50M
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A federal jury Thursday awarded more than $50 million in damages to neighbors of an industrial hog operation found responsible for intense smells, noise and other disturbances so bad people couldn't enjoy their rural homes.
Jurors on Thursday awarded the 10 neighbors of a 15,000-head swine operation a total of $750,000 in compensation, plus $50 million in damages designed to punish the corporation that owns the animals.
Lawyers didn't sue the Bladen County farm's owner, instead targeting the hog-production division of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods. The Chinese-owned company uses strict contracts to dictate how farm operators raise livestock that Smithfield owns. Smithfield Foods said it would appeal the decision.
The decision is the first in dozens of lawsuits filed by more than 500 neighbors complaining about hog operations.
Rural residents have complained about smells, clouds of flies and excessive spraying for decades. North Carolina legislators last year changed state law to make it much more difficult to replicate the string of lawsuits targeting hog operations like the one decided Thursday.
-- The Associated Press
Hormel weighs offer for China's Jiahao
Hormel Foods Corp., the maker of Spam canned meat and Skippy peanut butter, is among suitors studying potential bids for Chinese condiment producer Jiahao Foods, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Chinese buyout firm Citic Capital is also weighing an offer for Jiahao ahead of today's deadline for first-round bids, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The sale of the Zhongshan-based company, one of the first wasabi producers in China, has separately drawn interest from Hony Capital, the people said.
Jiahao, which is owned by Asian private-equity firm Unitas Capital, could fetch about $600 million in a sale, the people said.
An acquisition of Jiahao would also bring products including soy sauce, chicken powder and abalone sauce carried in supermarkets across China. Jiahao is led by Chairman Chen Zhixiong, known as "the Father of Chinese Mustard," according to its website.
-- Bloomberg News
No new engine cracks found, airline says
Southwest Airlines Co. in recent days hasn't found any additional signs of the metal fatigue on jet engine fan blades that led to last week's fatal accident, though an executive said one cracked blade was discovered during reviews last year.
Southwest has now inspected all but about 10,000 of the 35,500 fan blades in its fleet used on the same engine model that failed, Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said. The reviews began last year, with about 17,000 finished before the accident occurred. Examinations were stepped up after the April 17 fatal incident.
The carrier found one cracked blade, which was discarded and replaced, in its earlier inspections of the CFM56-7B engines, Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said.
The inspections of one of the most common jet engines in the world are being carried out under an emergency directive issued April 20 by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in the wake of last week's fatal accident in which a fan blade cracked and sent metal fragments flying, triggering an explosive decompression on the plane. A New Mexico woman was partially sucked through a window and died.
-- Bloomberg News
Durable-goods orders jump 2.6% in March
WASHINGTON -- Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose 2.6 percent in March, but a key category that tracks business investment spending fell for the third month out of the past four.
The big rise in orders for durable goods, which followed an even bigger 3.5 percent advance in February, was driven by a surge in demand for commercial aircraft, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Airplane orders shot up 44.5 percent last month. Excluding the volatile transportation category, orders would have been flat last month after a modest 0.9 percent rise in February.
The category that follows business investment plans edged down 0.1 percent in March after a 0.9 percent increase in February. It was also down in January and December, raising concerns about this important driver of economic growth.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 04/27/2018