Rate on 30-year mortgage ticks up to 3.34 percent
WASHINGTON >> Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages ticked up this week just slightly above their record lows, keeping home-buying and refinancing attractive to consumers. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 3.34 percent, above last week’s rate of 3.32 percent. Two weeks ago the rate fell to 3.31 percent, the lowest on records dating to 1971.
The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 2.67 percent from 2.64 percent last week. The rate declined to 2.63 percent two weeks ago, also a record low.
Mortgage rates have been near record lows all year. That has helped fuel a modest housing recovery. Sales of newly built and previously occupied homes are up from a year ago. Builders are more confident in the market and are responding by starting construction on more homes.
Hawaiian Air’s passenger traffic up 11.8%
Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic jumped 11.8 percent in November from the year-earlier period as the state’s largest carrier continued to expand its operations.
The airline said Thursday it transported 791,033 passengers last month compared with 707,447 in November 2011. Its load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, fell 2 percentage points to 82.4 percent from 84.4 percent.
Available seat miles, or one seat transported 1 mile, jumped 28 percent to 1.3 million from 1 million while revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported one mile, rose 24.9 percent to 1.1 million from 855,165.
Singapore will own Maui resort, 7 more
The Government of Singapore Investment Corp. is set to buy a group of resorts owned by hedge fund Paulson & Co. for $1.5 billion after no competing bidders emerged for the bankrupt properties.
An auction for the properties was canceled after no competing bids were received, leaving GIC, a sovereign wealth fund, as the successful bidder, according to a filing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, N.Y.
The sale comes after a joint venture that includes Paulson acquired eight resorts through a foreclosure last year. Five of the properties, including the Grand Wailea in Hawaii and La Quinta Resort & Club in California, then filed for bankruptcy protection.
The resorts sought approval in August for an auction with GIC acting as the lead bidder. The auction had been scheduled for today. The Doral golf resort in Miami was sold earlier to Donald Trump.
GIC, a creditor in the bankruptcy case, has agreed to buy the Grand Wailea, the La Quinta, the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, the Claremont resort in Berkeley, Calif., and property at the Doral, according to court papers.
The bid includes cash and debt GIC is owed, known as a credit bid, according to court papers.
Apple to manufacture some Macs in U.S.
NEW YORK » Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers to the United States next year.
Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the U.S. as wages rise in China.
Cook made the comments in part of an interview taped for NBC’s "Rock Center," but it aired Thursday morning on "Today" and was posted on the network’s website.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he said that the company will spend $100 million in 2013 to move production of the line to the U.S. from China.
"This doesn’t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we’ll be working with people and we’ll be investing our money," Cook told Bloomberg.
That suggests the company could be helping its Taiwanese manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group to set up a factory in the U.S.
Like most consumer electronics companies, Apple forges agreements with contract manufacturers to assemble its products overseas. However, the assembly accounts for a fraction of the cost of making a PC or smartphone. Most of the cost lies in buying chips, and many of those are made in the U.S., Cook noted in his interview with NBC.
Cook didn’t say which line of computers would be produced in the U.S. or where in the country they would be made.
ECB cuts growth outlook for eurozone
The European Central Bank warned of another gloomy year for the 17 European Union countries that use the euro, cutting its forecast for economic growth in 2013 from plus 0.5 percent to minus 0.3 percent.
Even so, the bank left rates unchanged at its meeting Thursday, and ECB head Mario Draghi gave little sign he was leaning toward any more cuts to stimulate growth.
The ECB’s revised forecasts come as the eurozone’s economy is caught in a recession.
U.S. unemployment aid applications drop
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid fell sharply last week as a temporary spike caused by superstorm Sandy faded. Weekly applications have fallen back to a level consistent with modest hiring.
The Labor Department said Thursday that applications dropped 25,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 370,000.
Unemployment aid applications spiked a month ago after Sandy shuttered businesses in the Northeast. Applications jumped to 451,000 in the week ended Nov. 10. People can claim unemployment benefits if their workplaces are forced to close and they aren’t paid.
On the Move
Honolulu Waldorf School has announced:
>> Irene Knuuti as its new business manager. She was previously a division controller with Outrigger Hotels and Resorts as well as a chief fiscal officer for Waianae Coast Community Mental Health Center.
>> Stacy Rachel as a director of admissions. Her experience includes working numerous years in college admissions in Illinois.
Hawaii National Bank has promoted Kyle Kettle to assistant vice president, branch manager and corporate lending officer, overseeing the bank’s Kahului and Kihei branches. He was previously an assistant vice president and loan officer in the bank’s corporate banking department.
Outrigger Enterprises Group has announced Guido Ulmann as the new executive chef of Kani Ka Pila Grille at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach hotel. Before joining Outrigger, he was executive chef at Waialae Country Club as well as for Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Prince Kuhio hotel and Los Angeles Hilton & Towers.
