Business news in brief

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“We’re moving in the right direction.The underlying trend for claims is a gradual drift lower.” Thomas Simons, Jefferies LLC economist, on Thursday’s unemployment benefits report Article, 1D2 from NLR win small-business award

Michael Gueringer and Paul Arthur Reesnes, owners of Custom Aircraft Cabinets of North Little Rock, have been named Arkansas Small Business Persons of the Year by the Small Business Administration’s Arkansas district office.

The two, along with others, will be honored at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards luncheon May 1 at the Holiday Inn Presidential hotel in Little Rock.

Tickets may be purchased by contacting Jeff Thatcher at (501) 210-4205 or at jthatcher@arkansasstatechamber.com.

Other winners include Mary Ann Campbell of Little Rock, the women in business champion of the year; Capital Business Machines of Little Rock, the family-owned business of the year;

Ralph Vines of North Little Rock, the top graduate of the administration’s business development program; First Financial Bank of El Dorado, the top Arkansas lender; Six Bridges Capital Corp.

of Little Rock, the certified development company of the year;

and FORGE Inc. of Huntsville, the microlender of the year.

Branson 19th on top destinations list

Branson is ranked No. 19 on TripAdvisor’s top 25 U.S. destinations for 2014.

The travel website has published its top destinations list for five years; this is Branson’s first time on the list. The top destinations were New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

“It’s fun to see our little town listed among all the popular cities on the list, but TripAdvisor regulars are experts at discerning what it takes to be a great destination and not necessarily a big one,” Ross Summers, president of the Branson/ Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, said in a release Thursday.

Ten of the top 25 U.S. destinations were in the South, according to a release from TripAdvisor.

Winners were determined using an algorithm taking into account quality and quantity of reviews and ratings for hotels, attractions and restaurants in destinations worldwide, gathered over a 12-month period.

Events to showcase alternate-fuel autos

The Arkansas Energy Office is joining the Arkansas Clean Cities Coalition to hold three alternative fuel vehicle events.

The events are free and open to the public. Attendees will be able to see and drive vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas, electricity, propane and ethanol. The purpose of the events is to educate consumers and fleet managers alike about the opportunities and benefits of alternative fuels.

The first alternative fuel exhibit will be from 3-5:30 p.m. today at Pulaski Technical College at 13000 Interstate 30 Frontage Road in Little Rock. On April 18, the vehicles will be displayed in Jonesboro at the Fowler Family Hospitality Services Building at 5504 Krueger Drive from 9 a.m. until noon. From 3:30-5:30 p.m. April 24, the vehicles will be on display in Camden at Southern Arkansas University Tech’s Ross Center at 746 California Ave. SW.

For more information, contact Chet Howland at 501-682-7319 or email chowland@ArkansasEDC.com.

  • David Smith

30-year mortgage rate drops to 4.34%

WASHINGTON - Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages declined this week, edging closer to historically low levels as the spring home-buying season begins.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for the 30-year loan fell to 4.34 percent from 4.41 percent last week. The average for the 15-year mortgage eased to 3.38 percent from 3.47 percent.

Mortgage rates have risen about a full percentage point since hitting record lows about a year ago.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., 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 at 0.7 point. The fee for a 15-year loan remained at 0.6 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 2.41 percent from 2.45 percent. The average fee rose to 0.5 point from 0.4 point.

U.S. crude oil reserves highest since ’76

Crude oil reserves in the U.S. grew for the fourth straight year in 2012, reaching the highest level since 1976, according to an Energy Department report released Thursday.

The report said reserves grew 4.5 billion barrels, or 15 percent, to 33 billion barrels in 2012. It was the biggest one-year jump since 1970.

The U.S. consumed 6.9 billion barrels of crude-based fuels last year.

Drillers have learned how to unlock oil trapped in rock formations once thought too expensive to tap, using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, a process known as fracking.

North Dakota and Texas, home to the two most prolific of these formations, accounted for the vast majority of the increase.

The oil reserves reported represent crude that can likely be produced in the future with current technology and prices.

  • The Associated Press

China’s fake data skew trade analyses

China’s data distortions will muddy analysis of the nation’s trade until at least June, making it harder for analysts to assess the strength of the world’s biggest exporter and second-largest economy.

That’s when China will provide figures that compare with what Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc economist Louis Kuijs said are “pretty clean” numbers from May 2013 that followed a crackdown on inflated invoices used to disguise capital inflows.

Government data Wednesday that showed March exports unexpectedly fell 6.6 percent from a year earlier marked the peak of distortions, RBS said.

China’s reluctance to revise figures it has acknowledged were inflated has left the job of explaining why the trade numbers are better than they appear to analysts like Kuijs, as the nation endures its worst economic slowdown since the global financial crisis. The distortions add to investor and analyst concerns that the quality of data from jobs to gross domestic product isn’t good enough for a country that’s driving commodity prices and Asian growth.

“It’s frustrating because you have to do a lot of explanation,” said Kuijs, Hong Kong-based chief Greater China economist, who formerly worked at the World Bank. “People see a very weak number and then you need to explain that the reality is not so bad because of very complicated reasons that included fake invoices and stuff. It makes all of us doubt more about what the reality really is.”

Business, Pages 28 on 04/11/2014

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