Mortgage rates rise, but near 3-year low
WASHINGTON -- Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for a third straight week yet remained near three-year lows.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.66 percent from 3.64 percent last week. That is well below its level a year ago of 3.87 percent.
The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 2.92 percent from 2.89 percent.
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 was unchanged from last week at 0.5 point. The fee for a 15-year loan also was steady at 0.5 point.
-- The Associated Press
N.Y. court OKs case against ex-AIG execs
ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York's attorney general can continue his legal effort to bar two former American International Group Inc. executives from the securities industry and forfeit any improperly gained profits, the state's highest court ruled Thursday.
The Court of Appeals for the second time refused to dismiss the lawsuit originally filed in 2005 by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, ruling it should go to trial.
The suit claims ex-AIG Chief Executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and ex-chief financial officer Howard Smith had engaged in fraudulent reinsurance transactions to conceal from investors a deteriorating financial condition.
AIG itself resolved state charges as part of a $1.64 billion agreement with regulators in 2006. The insurance giant was bailed out by the federal government in the 2008 financial crisis.
Greenberg and Smith settled related federal Securities and Exchange Commission complaints without admitting wrongdoing in 2009.
The court rejected another dismissal motion two years ago, concluding there was sufficient fraud evidence for trial.
-- The Associated Press
With no buyer, British retailer to close
British retail chain BHS will be liquidated, leading to as many as 11,000 job losses, after efforts to find a buyer failed.
None of the multiple potential purchasers for the 88-year-old retailer were able to complete a deal because of the "working capital required to secure the future of the company," administrator Duff & Phelps said in a statement Thursday.
The collapse of BHS led to a parliamentary inquiry to establish how the retailer's pension liabilities were allowed to swell to $824 million. Billionaire Philip Green pocketed about $606 million in dividends before selling BHS last year for one pound to Dominic Chappell, the former race-car driver with no retail industry experience who failed to turn the chain around. The liquidation will increase the scrutiny around Green's scheduled appearance at a parliamentary hearing on June 15.
Duff & Phelps said all 163 BHS stores will be "in close-down sale mode" over the coming weeks. The jobs of 8,000 employees are likely to be lost, while a further 3,000 positions held by non-BHS workers may also be at risk, the administrator said.
BHS becomes the second British retail stalwart to disappear from the country's high street in quick succession, after administrators also announced this week that 116-year-old formalwear chain Austin Reed will be liquidated.
-- Bloomberg News
Exelon to close 2 Illinois nuclear plants
CHICAGO -- Exelon Corp. said Thursday that it will shut two Illinois nuclear power plants after the state Legislature declined to act on the company's request for financial support.
The Clinton Power Station in Clinton will close June 1, 2017, and the Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova will close June 1, 2018, the Chicago-based power provider said in a news release.
Exelon said it made the decision because the future is unclear for legislation that it backs that would extend state subsidies to nuclear power plants for producing reliable, carbon-free electricity that will help Illinois meet federal mandates.
Illinois lawmakers formally adjourned their spring session Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, legislation was not passed, and now we are forced to retire the plants," Exelon President and CEO Chris Crane said in a statement. "We wish the outcome would have been different."
-- The Associated Press
Survey: More in U.S. will work into 70s
U.S. workers are more confident that they'll be able to retire someday. Just not until they're 70.
Some 23 percent of Americans with jobs said they planned on being septuagenarian employees, up from 16 percent in 2009, according to Willis Towers Watson, a human resource consulting firm. While the average employee calculates he will retire at age 65, as a group they place the odds that they'll still be working at age 70 at 50 percent.
Of those planning to work into their 70s, 40 percent feel stuck in their jobs. Of those planning to retire at age 65 or earlier, about 28 percent feel that way, according to the survey.
The survey also said employees in the U.S. are more pessimistic about whether their generation will be "much worse off in retirement" compared with their parents' generation. In America, 76 percent agreed or strongly agreed with that statement. Globally, 66 percent agreed.
A significantly smaller percentage of women than men feel confident about having enough savings to live comfortably for 25 years in retirement.
-- Bloomberg News
Johnson & Johnson to pay $3.3B for Vogue
NEW YORK -- Johnson & Johnson is buying hair care products maker Vogue International for about $3.3 billion.
Privately held Vogue also sells other personal care products.
The acquisition will give Johnson & Johnson the OGX collection of shampoos, conditioners, treatments, styling products, body care and bath products, the FX hair styling product line and the Proganix and Maui Moisture hair care lines.
Vogue's hair care products are sold in the U.S. and 38 other countries.
Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., has brands including Neutrogena and Band-Aid.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 06/03/2016