Long-term mortgage rates edge lower
WASHINGTON -- Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, offering a slight degree of relief to would-be homebuyers.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.52 percent from 4.55 percent a week ago. Rates have declined in five of the past six weeks. Still, the average rate has increased from a year ago when it stood at 3.96 percent.
The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate loans slipped to 3.99 percent from 4.04 percent a year ago.
Mortgage rates have declined as investors have bought 10-year U.S. Treasury notes, causing their yield to decline. The yield peaked in May at 3.11 percent and has since dipped to 2.83 percent as the financial markets have sought a haven amid risks of a trade war.
Despite the recent declines, long-term loan rates remain near their highest levels in seven years. The average 30-year mortgage rate reached a high this year of 4.66 percent on May 24; the 15-year rate hit 4.15 percent that day.
The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. The average fee on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged from last week at 0.5 point.
-- The Associated Press
Services sector tops June expectations
WASHINGTON -- U.S. service firms expanded at a surprisingly strong pace in June as companies saw gains in business activity and new orders.
The Institute for Supply Management said Thursday that its services index rose to 59.1 last month, compared with 58.6 in May. Any reading above 50 signals growth.
The services sector, where most Americans are employed, has now expanded for 101 consecutive months, or more than eight years.
The June gain was stronger than expected. Many economists believed that the index reading might slip slightly.
The solid gain in the services sector followed an unexpectedly strong reading for the institute's manufacturing index, which came in at 60.2 for June.
Analysts said the two strong readings for the indexes support their belief that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, would rebound strongly in the April-June quarter from a weak first quarter, when GDP grew at a lackluster annual rate of 2 percent.
-- The Associated Press
Tennessee suit slams painkiller-maker
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A newly unsealed lawsuit by Tennessee's attorney general says the maker of the world's top-selling painkiller directed its sales force to target the highest prescribers, many with limited or no pain management background or training.
Citing the public's right to know, Attorney General Herbert Slatery said Thursday that OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma has dropped its previous efforts to shield details of the 274-page lawsuit in state court. The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and the Knoxville News Sentinel had also requested that the lawsuit's records become public.
The lawsuit says the Stamford, Conn.-based company targeted vulnerable people, including the elderly.
Purdue did so while relying on continued users and high doses, according to the lawsuit: 104.3 million OxyContin tablets were prescribed in Tennessee from 2008 to 2017, with 53.7 percent of them 40 milligrams or higher. And more than 80 percent of Purdue's business consistently came from continued users, the lawsuit says.
For example, Purdue called on two providers 48 times after law enforcement told Purdue the pair was responsible for significant interstate OxyContin diversion, the lawsuit says.
-- The Associated Press
Busiest airline travel days have arrived
Travelers looking to avoid the big crowds at the airport might want to delay traveling until Thanksgiving or Christmas. Contrary to popular belief, airlines carry thousands more people on some days in June, July and August than around the end-of-year holidays.
American Airlines Group Inc. expects to fly 692,300 people on Sunday, making it the busiest day this summer. It expects to operate 6,892 flights on July 13 and again on July 20, the most so far this year. The carrier's most crowded day last summer was June 30, when it flew 698,300 people. By contrast, American's biggest day in November involved 677,317 passengers, and its heaviest day in December, 682,390.
While the Sunday after Thanksgiving is often assumed to be the busiest travel day of the year, it doesn't show up in Delta Air Lines Inc.'s top 10 by number of flights or passengers, said Michael Thomas, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based carrier. Delta flew more than 645,000 passengers on June 29, its busiest so far this year.
Airlines for America, the lobbying group for U.S. carriers, says 22 of the 25 busiest travel days last year were during the summer, citing figures from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The group has forecast that 246 million people would travel by air between June 1 and Aug. 31, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier.
-- Bloomberg News
Net entrepreneur loses extradition fight
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Flamboyant Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and three of his former colleagues have lost their latest bid to avoid extradition to the U.S. to face criminal charges.
New Zealand's Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld earlier court rulings that found the men were eligible to be handed over to U.S. authorities.
Dotcom's lawyer Ira Rothken said they were disappointed with the judgment and planned to file an appeal with New Zealand's Supreme Court.
The latest decision comes more than six years after U.S. authorities shut down Dotcom's file-sharing website Megaupload and filed charges of conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering against the men. If found guilty, they could face decades in prison.
Megaupload was once one of the Internet's most popular sites. U.S. prosecutors say it raked in at least $175 million, mainly from people using it to illegally download songs, television shows and movies.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 07/06/2018