30-year mortgage rate jumps to 3.50%
WASHINGTON -- Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week, with the benchmark 30-year loan reaching its highest level since June.
Rates remain at historically low levels, however.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average for the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 3.50 percent from 3.44 percent last week. It was the highest level since June, when it averaged over 3.60 percent. Still, the average 30-year rate is down from 3.91 percent a year ago and is close to its all-time low of 3.31 percent in November 2012.
The 15-year fixed mortgage rate edged up to 2.77 percent from 2.76 percent.
Long-term mortgage rates tend to track the yield on 10-year Treasury notes, which rose sharply amid volatility in the U.S. stock market. The yield on the 10-year notes soared to 1.70 percent Wednesday from 1.54 percent a week earlier. It rose further to 1.72 percent Thursday morning.
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 fell to 0.5 point this week from 0.6 point last week. The fee for a 15-year loan was unchanged at 0.5 point.
-- The Associated Press
Dividend to rise, Goodyear shares surge
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said it will increase its dividend by 43 percent as part of a plan to return as much as $4 billion to shareholders. .
The quarterly dividend will rise to 10 cents a share from 7 cents, starting with the Dec. 1 payout, the Akron, Ohio-based company said in a statement Thursday. Goodyear also forecast annual operating income of $3 billion from its three business units in 2020 and cumulative free cash flow of $4.3 billion to $4.9 billion from 2017 through 2020.
Consumers' affinity for sport utility vehicles and other models requiring larger and more complex tires plays to Goodyear's strengths, Chief Executive Officer Richard Kramer said in the statement. Increasing demand for tires with diameter of 17 inches or more, which have higher profit margins, has boosted the business.
"The tire industry is healthy, growing and offers attractive opportunities to grow profitably," he said.
Goodyear shares gained $1.58, or 5.1 percent, to close Thursday at $32.39. The shares had slid 5.7 percent this year through Wednesday.
-- Bloomberg News
Timely rains spell record harvest in India
India is set for record production of food grain this year after timely monsoon rain encouraged farmers to plant rice, corn and pulses across a larger area, Farm Minister Radha Mohan Singh said.
The government has set a food-grain harvest target of 298 million tons for the crop year that began on July 1, compared with 278 million tons a year earlier, Singh said in New Delhi on Thursday. The area under monsoon-sown crops climbed to 260.6 million acres as of Sept. 9, compared with 250 million acres a year earlier, according to Agriculture Ministry data.
India is counting on an increase in production of lentils, vegetables and grains to curb food inflation after the first back-to-back shortfall in monsoon rainfall ravaged crops and widened a shortage of essential commodities. Though monsoon precipitation has been below average this year as well, crops such as rice, corn, peanuts and pulses have benefited from well-distributed rains, according to S.K. Pattanayak, agriculture secretary. An increase in water level in reservoirs will improve winter-sown crops such as wheat and mustard, he said.
"We are expecting bumper production this year," Pattanayak said in New Delhi on Thursday. "Good distribution of rain, good-quality seeds and timely application of fertilizers and efforts put in by farmers will give good results."
-- Bloomberg News
Chinese: In fatality, Tesla's Autopilot on
BEIJING -- Tesla faces new scrutiny in China about its vehicle Autopilot system after state television broadcast a report that a man killed in a crash had activated the driver-assist feature of his car.
The state broadcaster CCTV aired a report Wednesday about a January crash that killed 23-year-old Gao Yaning. The report included apparent dash camera footage of the car slamming into a slow-moving orange truck.
An official interviewed in the report said the car's Autopilot feature was active at the time of the crash. CCTV reported Gao's family has sued Tesla in a Beijing court, though the lawsuit was not available in online court records. Officials at the court did not answer the phone on Thursday, a Chinese holiday.
Tesla said in a statement that the car was too damaged in the wreck to transmit data to company servers and that Gao's family had not cooperated with the company's investigation.
"We have tried repeatedly to work with our customer to investigate the cause of the crash, but he has not provided us with any additional information that would allow us to do so," it said.
A spokesman for the company did not respond to questions about what the car had transmitted before the crash.
-- The Associated Press
Chrysler said to look at 2nd China tie-up
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Beijing-based BAIC Group are exploring a joint venture, which would be the Italian carmaker's second partnership in China after its tie-up with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., according to people familiar with the matter.
The discussions are at an early stage, the people said, asking not be identified as the talks are private.
Fiat Chrysler formed its first production venture in the country in 2010 with Guangzhou Auto to produce Fiat brand vehicles. Last year, the venture was expanded to manufacture the Jeep Cherokee at its plant in Hunan province's Changsha city.
China requires foreign automakers to set up joint ventures with local partners to manufacture locally and avoid hefty import taxes, as part of an industrial policy to spur technology transfer and operational know-how. Each international carmaker is limited to two passenger-vehicle joint ventures, with no limit on the number that the local partner can have.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 09/16/2016