30-year mortgage rate falls to record low

WASHINGTON » Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell to fresh record lows this week, a trend that has helped the housing market start to recover this year.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says that the average rate on the 30-year loan dipped to 3.34 percent, the lowest on records dating back to 1971. That’s down from 3.40 percent last week and the previous record low of 3.36 percent reached last month.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage also dropped to 2.65 percent. That’s down from 2.69 percent last week and also a record.

The average rate on the 30-year loan has been below 4 percent all year. It has fallen further since the Federal Reserve started buying mortgage bonds in September to encourage more borrowing and spending.

Eurozone slides back into a recession

LONDON » The 17-country eurozone has fallen back into recession for the first time in three years as the fallout from the region’s financial crisis was felt from Amsterdam to Athens. And with surveys pointing to increasingly depressed conditions across the 17-member group at a time of austerity and high unemployment, the recession is forecast to deepen and make the debt crisis — which has been calmer of late — even more difficult to handle.

Official figures Thursday showed that the eurozone contracted by 0.1 percent in the July-to-September period from the quarter before, as economies including Germany and the Netherlands suffered from falling demand for products and services.

Target upbeat for holidays after net rises

MINNEAPOLIS » Target Corp. is optimistic heading into the critical holiday shopping season after a strong third quarter. The holiday shopping season can make up 40 percent of a retailer’s annual revenue — and Target expects this year to be "highly competitive and promotional," said Kathryn Tesija, executive vice president of merchandising.

For the three months ended Oct. 27, Target earned $637 million, or 96 cents a share, compared with $555 million, or 82 cents a share, a year earlier. The current quarter’s performance included a 15-cent gain tied to the retailer’s sale of its consumer credit card business to TD Bank Group.

McDonald’s ousts U.S. head after sales fall

NEW YORK » McDonald’s Corp. is hoping a leadership shake-up for its U.S. business can help it warm up sales and fight off intensifying competition.

The world’s biggest hamburger chain said Thursday that Jan Fields, president of McDonald’s USA, will be replaced by Jeff Stratton, its global chief restaurant officer, effective Dec. 1. The announcement came less than a week after the fast-food giant reported its first monthly sales drop in nearly a decade.

Walmart posts 9% rise in profits but misses sales forecast

NEW YORK >> Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 9 percent increase in net income for the third quarter, but revenue for the world’s largest retailer fell below Wall Street forecasts as its low-income shoppers continue to grapple with an uncertain economy. 

Walmart is considered an economic bellwether because the retailer accounts for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the U.S.

The retailer earned $3.63 billion, or $1.08 per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 31 compared with $3.33 billion, or 96 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Net revenue, excluding Sam’s Club membership fees, rose 3.4 percent to $113.2 million. Analysts were expecting $1.07 per share on net revenue of $114 billion. Excluding the currency impact, net revenue would have been $114.9 million. 

ON THE MOVE

City Mill Co. has appointed Caleb Hani­see store manager of the new City Mill store, which opens at the Lau­lani Village Shopping Center in Ewa Beach today. He started in 2007 as an assistant store manager of City Mill’s Hono­lulu store and was promoted to store manager of its Wai­pahu location in 2009.

Hawaii Pacific DEEG has announced Dr. Robert R. Sloan as its electrodiagnostic specialist. He is a board-certified physiatrist and currently teaches at the Department of Medicine at Hawaii Pacific Neuroscience. Sloan held multiple medical directorships on Hawaii island and worked as a physician for the Olympic Training Center in San Diego and the International Olympic Committee at the Winter Olympic Village in 2002.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii veterans and community leaders honored John Henry Felix last week for his role in establishing the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe. Felix is president, chairman and chief executive officer of the Hawaii Medical Assurance Association.