Business news in brief

Rates jump for 15-, 30-year mortgages

WASHINGTON -- Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates surged this week, marking their largest one-week gain this year.

Mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday the nationwide average for a 30-year loan jumped to 4.23 percent from 4.12 percent last week. The average for a 15-year mortgage, a popular choice for people who are refinancing, rose to 3.37 percent from 3.26 percent.

At 4.23 percent, the rate on a 30-year mortgage is at its highest level since the week ended May 1, though it is still at a historically low level.

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 from last week at 0.5 point. The fee for a 15-year mortgage also remained at 0.5 point.

-- The Associated Press

Kenya anticipates gains in oil reserves

Kenya expects its estimate of oil resources to almost double to 1 billion barrels as drilling increases and the government forges ahead with plans to build an export pipeline, an energy ministry official said.

Tullow Oil PLC and its partner Africa Oil Corp. have discovered an estimated 600 million barrels of oil in the South Lokichar Basin since announcing the country's first crude find in March 2012. The discovery has spurred the East African nation to accelerate infrastructure-development plans, including construction of an oil pipeline that will link Uganda to a planned port in the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu.

Initial data acquired from northern Kenya indicates the figure for estimated oil resources is set to rise with increased drilling, said Petroleum Commissioner Martin Heya.

"Most licenses will move to the drilling stage next year because that is when their initial license period of two to three years starts to expire," Heya said in a Sept. 16 interview in the capital, Nairobi. "They usually use the initial phase for data collection" and spend the second stage conducting exploration drilling, he said.

-- Bloomberg News

Pier One shares slide on profit falloff

Shares of Pier One Imports Inc., the owner of about 1,000 home-furnishing stores in North America, fell the most in four years Thursday after second-quarter profit missed analysts' estimates amid "soft" customer traffic and slimmer margins.

The shares slid $2.88, or 18.5 percent, to close Thursday at $12.66. Shares of the Fort Worth-based company had dropped 33 percent this year through the close of regular trading Wednesday.

Net income in the three months through Aug. 30 fell 49 percent to $9.2 million, or 10 cents a share, the company said Wednesday in a statement. Analysts estimated a profit of 13 cents, on average. Sales rose 5.8 percent to $418.6 million, trailing analysts' $426.2 million projection.

"We were challenged by soft store traffic and, more significantly, by declines in our merchandise margins," Chief Executive Officer Alex Smith said in the statement.

Gross profit was 38.9 percent of sales in the second quarter, down from 40.8 percent a year earlier, the company said.

-- Bloomberg News

Solar panel program to train veterans

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is planning to train veterans to become solar panel installers in the next six years, the White House said Thursday.

The jobs training program is among a host of initiatives the White House says will cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than 300 million tons through 2030, plus save billions of dollars on energy bills for homeowners and businesses. It will begin this fall at one or more military bases and train a total of at least 50,000, including veterans.

The Agriculture Department will also spend nearly $70 million to fund 540 solar and renewable energy projects, focused on rural and farming areas. And the Energy Department will propose stricter efficiency standards for commercial air conditioners, a move the department said could cut emissions more than any other efficiency standard it has issued to date.

The proposals are modest compared with what President Barack Obama has asked Congress to do through legislation to promote clean energy, invest in infrastructure projects and force reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

-- The Associated Press

Chevron says it meets new shale rules

PITTSBURGH -- Chevron has become the first energy company to meet a new set of voluntary shale-gas drilling standards that aim to go beyond existing state laws in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, the Pittsburgh-based Center for Sustainable Shale announced Thursday.

The center is a partnership between major energy companies, environmental groups and charitable foundations. Its certification process consisted of an independent review of Chevron documents and 22 of its production sites in the three states.

The program is meant to work much like Underwriters Laboratories, which puts its familiar UL seal on electrical appliances. The review was conducted by Bureau Veritas, an international testing company that also handles the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) review process for the U.S. Green Building Council.

Nigel Hearne, president of Chevron's Appalachia operations, said that the 15 Sustainable Shale standards "will produce meaningful results" in reducing pollution and freshwater use, and that he hopes other energy companies join in the process. Chevron Corp. is based in San Ramon, Calif.

The Sierra Club and other some environmental groups have criticized the Sustainable Shale program, saying voluntary efforts are no substitute for tougher state and federal regulations.

-- The Associated Press

Business on 09/19/2014

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