Little love for Obamacare, poll shows

WASHINGTON » President Barack Obama celebrated when sign-ups for his health care law topped 8 million, far exceeding expectations after a slipshod launch. Most Americans, however, remain unimpressed.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that public opinion continues to run deeply negative on the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature effort to cover the uninsured. Forty-three percent oppose the law, compared with just 28 percent in support. The pattern illustrates why the health care law remains a favored target for Republicans seeking a Senate majority in the midterm elections.

The poll does have a bright spot for the administration: Those who signed up for coverage aren’t reeling from sticker shock. Most said they found premiums in line with what they expected, or even lower.

But even that was diminished by another finding: More than one-third of those who said they or someone in their household tried to enroll in Obama­care were ultimately unable to do so. For the White House it’s an uncomfortable reminder of the technical problems that paralyzed the HealthCare.gov website for weeks after it went live last fall.

U.S. new-home sales up 6.4 percent in April

WASHINGTON » Sales of U.S. new homes recovered in April after slumping in the previous two months, but Americans are still buying new homes at a slower pace than they did a year ago.

The Commerce Department said Friday that sales of new homes rose 6.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000. That compares with an upwardly revised annual pace of 407,000 in March, when purchases fell 6.9 percent. Buying had dropped 4.4 percent in February, in part because of winter snowstorms.

Demand for newly built homes remains one of the missing pieces of the nearly 5-year-old recovery from the Great Recession. A lack of affordability has limited buying around the country. Sales of new homes are running at roughly half the rate of a healthy real estate market.

Court rejects federal rule to cut energy use

WASHINGTON » A federal appeals court Friday overturned an electricity regulation in which utilities pay energy users in the wholesale market to reduce consumption.

The court ruled 2-1 that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission directive encroaches on states’ authority to regulate the retail power market, a position taken by utilities, which also oppose the regulation on grounds that it is too generous to major energy users.

In an approach known as demand response, electricity users are paid to reduce their consumption in response to rising prices. The appeals court says demand response is part of the retail market because it involves retail customers, their decision whether to purchase at retail and the levels of retail electricity consumption.

U.S. prevails in auto dispute with China

GENEVA » The United States has scored a victory before the World Trade Organization in a case that challenged China’s imposition of penalty tariffs on the sale of $5 billion in U.S.-made vehicles in China.

A WTO panel ruled Friday that China’s tariffs violated international trade rules. The ruling came during a week when the U.S. Justice Department charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into U.S. companies’ computer systems to steal trade secrets.

The two developments pointed to intensifying trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.

GM recalls 500 pickups, SUVs over air bags

DETROIT » General Motors is recalling about 500 pickup trucks and SUVs to fix faulty air bag controls, its 30th recall so far this year.

The company is in the midst of a companywide safety review after it mishandled the recall of more than 2.6 million older small cars with faulty ignition switches. GM has acknowledged knowing about the switch problem for more than a decade before it began recalling the cars in February.

GM says Friday’s recall covers full-size pickups and SUVs from the 2014 and 2015 model years. All 500 are still at dealerships and won’t be sold until repairs are made. Since January GM has recalled more than 13.8 million vehicles in the U.S.

ON THE MOVE

Central Pacific Bank has promoted the following employees:

» Scott Nahme to senior vice president and commercial real estate senior manager from vice president and commercial real estate senior manager.

» Glenn Imai to vice president and credit officer of retail and small-business credit delivery from assistant vice president and credit officer.

Palama Settlement has announced 10 new members of its board of trustees for three-year terms: Al Carganilla, Valentino Ceria, Aaron Ellis, Jason Y. Ito, Raymond Iwamoto, Patricia Nishimoto, Paul M. Saito, Su Shin, John K. Taira and Brian Uemori. Jarrett Walters, vice president of building operations for Hawaii Building Maintenance, will continue to serve as president of the board of trustees until 2015.

SHIP AHOY!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures:

HONOLULU HARBOR