The state took advantage of falling borrowing costs and insatiable demand for tax-exempt securities to sell $204.5 million of highway-revenue bonds.

Hawaii originally had planned to offer just under $200 million of the securities, with the proceeds from the sale being split between funds for infrastructure projects and to refinance older debt. Tax-exempt bonds maturing in 10 years were priced at a yield of 1.57 percent, or 0.18 percentage point above benchmark debt, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

S&P Global Ratings assigned the debt a rank of AA+, the second-highest investment grade rating, reflecting its view of the state’s “broad and diverse revenue stream of several highway-user taxes” and “very strong coverage of maximum annual debt service coverage,” credit analyst Gabriel Petek said in a note.

As of July 26, Hawaii was just one of two states in the country with a positive outlook from S&P, the other being Minnesota. The credit-ratings company has negative outlooks assigned to nine other states, with the remainder carrying a stable outlook.

Samsung withholds workers’ health risk

SEOUL >> As a high school senior, Hwang Yu-mi went to work bathing silicon wafers in chemicals at a Samsung factory that makes computer chips for laptops and other devices. She died of leukemia four years later.

Her father later learned that a 30-year-old worker at the same semiconductor line also had died of leukemia, but he struggled to get details about the factory environment. Samsung did not release that information to worker-safety officials.

An Associated Press investigation has found South Korean authorities have repeatedly withheld from workers and bereaved families crucial information about chemicals used at Samsung’s computer chip and liquid crystal display factories. Sick workers need access to such data through the government or courts to apply for workers’ compensation. Without it, government rejections are common.

In at least six cases involving 10 workers, the justification for withholding the information was trade secrets.

U.S. employers advertised more jobs in June

WASHINGTON >> U.S. employers advertised more openings and hired more people in June, adding to evidence that the job market has rebounded from a brief soft patch in the spring.

The number of job openings rose a modest 2 percent to 5.6 million in June from 5.5 million in May, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Still, that figure remains below the 5.8 million openings advertised in April, the highest on records going back 16 years.

Hiring increased 1.7 percent in June to 5.1 million, a solid level but below a recent peak of 5.5 million in February.

Wendy’s says more people eating at home

DUBLIN, Ohio >> Wendy’s is the latest major fast-food chain to report weaker-than-expected sales growth, with the hamburger company saying people aren’t dining out as much because it has gotten even cheaper to eat at home.

The chain known for its Frosty shakes and square burgers said Wednesday that sales edged up 0.4 percent at North American restaurants open at least 15 months in the second quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet forecast a 2.4 percent increase.

Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor said during a conference call that customer traffic across the fast-food industry slipped starting earlier this year as the price gap between eating at home and dining out widened.

That’s because lower commodity costs have kept grocery prices down, while restaurant chains may maintain or raise prices as they deal with costs for running their businesses and try to improve profit margins.

Over time, Penegor said he’s confident fast-food chains will continue taking customer traffic away from sit-down restaurants.

“We view this as a bump in the road,” he said.

The results from Wendy’s follow disappointing sales from other chains including McDonald’s, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. The other chains have cited a variety of reasons, including the political uncertainty created by the presidential election, for their performance.

ON THE MOVE

Maryknoll School has appointed the following board members to help ensure that the school maintains and develops its financial strength:

>> Mark Arimoto is director of Hawaiian Airlines. Before serving as director, Arimoto had worked in Hawaiian Airlines’ legal department since 2007. He also serves as a chairman for the Hawaii Cord Blood Bank’s board of directors.

>> Ed Yamamura is the owner and operator of five McDonald’s restaurants located in Kapolei, Kapolei West, Nanakuli, Waianae and Walmart Kapolei. Before returning to Hawaii as a franchise owner, Yamamura worked for 13 years in various organizations, including DHL and Brinks Inc. in Chicago.

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Star-Advertiser staff