Mortgage rates fall; hiring fears cited
WASHINGTON -- Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell sharply this week amid concern over a labor market that has shown recent signs of weakness.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 3.76 percent from 3.85 percent a week earlier. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages declined to 2.99 percent from 3.07 percent.
Rates have stayed below 4 percent for 11 straight weeks.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., surveys lenders across the country at the beginning of 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 held steady from last week at 0.6 point. The fee for a 15-year loan declined to 0.6 point from 0.7 point.
-- The Associated Press
FAA backs rechargeable battery ban
WASHINGTON -- The risk of fire is prompting federal officials to back a proposed ban on rechargeable battery shipments on passenger airlines.
An FAA official says "the risk is immediate and urgent." The FAA cites research showing the batteries can cause explosions and fires capable of destroying a plane.
The proposed ban is on cargo shipments of rechargeable lithium batteries on passenger airlines.
Billions of the lithium-ion batteries are used to power consumer electronics ranging from cellphones and laptops to power tools and toothbrushes. Tens of thousands of batteries are often shipped on a single plane.
FAA tests show even a small number of overheating batteries will emit gases that can cause explosions and fires that can't be prevented by current aircraft fire suppression systems.
-- The Associated Press
Lumber Liquidators to pay $13.2M fine
Flooring company Lumber Liquidators Inc. concealed that it imported timber from a habitat for rare tigers, U.S. prosecutors said as the company announced it will pay $13.2 million to resolve a federal investigation.
The charges come as the Toano, Va.-based company battles separate claims that its products have excessive formaldehyde. Wednesday's case in federal court in Norfolk, Va., doesn't address those allegations.
Since 2013 the U.S. has been investigating whether some of the company's foreign suppliers were harvesting more wood than permitted in Russia and elsewhere for American import, Lumber Liquidators said in a statement Wednesday. Prosecutors said most of the company's suppliers are located in China, where the suspect flooring was made from wood from Russia and Burma.
The resolution of the case sent shares of parent company Lumber Liquidators Holdings up $1.84, or 12.6 percent, to close Thursday in New York at $16.42. The stock had been down 78 percent this year, hurt by the separate accusations that its laminate flooring contains excessive levels of formaldehyde. The company was the subject of a 60 Minutes story earlier this year that hurt demand and prompted it to halt sales of laminate from China.
Timber from Far East Russia is seen as "having a high risk of being illegally sourced due to corruption and illegal harvesting," according to court papers.
-- Bloomberg News
Ex-banker pleads guilty in Ponzi case
MIAMI -- A former executive at TD Bank pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal conspiracy charge for providing false assurances to investors who put their money in ex-lawyer Scott Rothstein's $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
Frank Spinosa, a former bank regional vice president, pleaded guilty in Miami federal court to wire fraud conspiracy after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. Spinosa, 54, faces a maximum of five years in prison and $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Dec. 18.
Spinosa is the last of more than two dozen people who have been charged and convicted so far in the Rothstein scam, which collapsed five years ago. In addition, TD Bank earlier this year paid a $67 million civil judgment to a group of Texas investors who sued the bank.
Prosecutor Lawrence LaVecchio said Rothstein had 38 accounts at TD Bank that he used in the fraud scheme, which lured investors with promises of fat profits from supposedly confidential legal settlements. Investors were told the plaintiffs were willing to accept a lower lump sum in return for signing over the larger settlements that would be paid in installments to investors.
In reality, there were no plaintiffs and no settlements.
Spinosa's role in the scheme was to sign so-called "lock letters" assuring investors that their money was safe in TD Bank accounts and that no one else could have access to the cash.
-- The Associated Press
$681,459 grant to aid farming program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday announced a $681,459 grant to the University of Arkansas Law School's Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative.
The money will help pay for a summer leadership youth program for American Indians and native peoples of Alaska and Hawaii who are interested in farming, said Janie Simms Hipp, the initiative's director.
The program, begun in 2014, provides intensive classroom instruction for high school and college students in subjects such as business management, land management and land leasing, Hipp said. She said the program prepares students for the legal and regulatory framework that governs farming on tribal land.
Hipp said 84 students from 47 tribes attended the 2015 program, up from 50 students from 22 tribes who enrolled the previous year. The students live on campus for the duration of the event, which lasted 10 days this year.
Hipp said there are 567 federally recognized tribes in the United States and organizers hope to continue to increase enrollment. The USDA grant will help pay the summer program's costs for the next three years, she said.
-- Scott Morris
Business on 10/09/2015