Business News in Brief

In this Wednesday, June 20, 2018 photo, a house is advertised for sale in Miami. On Thursday, June 21, Freddie Mac reports on the week’s average U.S. mortgage rates. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
In this Wednesday, June 20, 2018 photo, a house is advertised for sale in Miami. On Thursday, June 21, Freddie Mac reports on the week’s average U.S. mortgage rates. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Iran firmly against OPEC output increase

Iran continued to reject any increase in oil production from OPEC and its allies, casting doubts on Saudi Arabia and Russia's efforts to get a deal that would aid consumers by alleviating high prices.

At talks in Vienna on Thursday, ministers from some of the world's largest oil producers failed to secure the sought-after compromise that would allow the cartel to ease back on its production cuts. While Iran alone can veto any change to the group's output policy, there is historical precedent for the Saudis to act alone and increase supply when they see an urgent need.

"It wasn't a good meeting," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters after walking out of the meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee. "There were proposals but I don't think we can reach an agreement."

The talks in the Austrian capital were the latest steps in a process that has whipsawed oil markets for weeks. Saudi Arabia and Russia's desire to roll back production cuts has encountered fierce opposition from Iran and Venezuela, while U.S. President Donald Trump has lobbed the occasional rhetorical bomb at the cartel on behalf of consumers.

OPEC will meet again today to discuss output.

-- Bloomberg News

Major banks clear stress test's 1st stage

Big banks cleared the first hurdle of this year's U.S. stress tests as the Federal Reserve found all 35 lenders examined could withstand a severe economic downturn, though Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trailed the rest of Wall Street in a key measure of leverage.

The results announced Thursday mark the third-straight year every bank exceeded the Fed's minimum capital demands, indicating the industry's increased comfort with reviews that once triggered headaches. The exams assess how much capital lenders would have left after enduring financial shocks. This year, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley came closest among Wall Street behemoths to falling below the so-called supplementary leverage ratio.

The Fed started using the annual tests after the 2008 financial crisis to force lenders to bulk up their ability to weather losses.

The tests come in two parts, and Thursday's announcement disclosed the findings for the Dodd-Frank Act Street Test. This one measures how much capital each firm would have after an upheaval, but it doesn't come with a passing or failing grade. For Wall Street, next Thursday is the main event because that's when the Fed will reveal results from what's known as its Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review -- the test that actually quantifies the capital minimums.

-- Bloomberg News

15-, 30-year mortgage rates backpedal

WASHINGTON -- Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, marking their third decline in the past four weeks after increasing last week.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was 4.57 percent, down from 4.62 percent last week. By contrast, the 30-year rate averaged 3.90 percent a year ago.

The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate loans eased to 4.04 percent from 4.07 percent last week.

Putting the recent decline in perspective, long-term loan rates have been running at 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 Federal Reserve last week raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time this year and signaled that it may step up its pace of rate increases.

-- The Associated Press

Mining planned at former Utah monument

The red sandstone vistas in Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument may soon be crisscrossed with dump trucks after a Canadian mining company announced plans to begin operations on land cut from federal protection by President Donald Trump.

Glacier Lake Resources Inc. of Vancouver announced last week that it had acquired a former copper mine on land formerly contained in one of the two national monuments that Trump shrunk last year, a move that was bitterly contested at the time by environmental and American Indian groups.

The company plans to mine copper, cobalt and other minerals from about 200 acres. The mine was last used in 1974, according to the company.

Facebook taking anti-fake-news steps

-- Bloomberg News

Facebook announced an expansion of several initiatives Thursday to combat the spread of misinformation on the social network used by more than 2 billion people.

In a company blog, Facebook acknowledged that fake news reports and doctored content have increasingly become image-based in some countries, making it harder for readers to discern whether a photo or video related to a news event is authentic. The company said it has expanded its fact-checking of traditional links posted on Facebook to photos and videos. Partnering with third-party experts trained in visual verification, the company also will flag images that have been posted on Facebook in a misleading context, such as, for example, a photo of a previous natural disaster or shooting that is displayed as a present-day event.

Facebook also will use machine-learning tools to identify duplicates of debunked stories that continue to pop up on the network. The company said that more than 1 billion pictures, links, videos and messages are uploaded to the social platform every day, making fact-checking difficult to execute by human review. The automated tools will help the company find domains and links that are spreading the same claims that have already been proved false. Facebook has said it will use artificial intelligence to limit misinformation, but the latest update applies to finding duplicates of false claims.

-- The Washington Post

Business on 06/22/2018

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