BUSINESS BRIEFS
30-year mortgage rates hit 6.46%, an 8-week high
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Rates on 30-year mortgages jumped to the highest level in eight weeks, squeezing some potential homebuyers out of the market, and reflecting how nervous lenders remain despite the massive global intervention in the credit markets.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported yesterday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.46 percent this week, up from 5.94 percent last week. It marked the third increase out of the past four weeks and pushed rates to the highest level since Aug. 21.
In plain dollars and cents, last week's increase means a homebuyer would spend about $55 more a month to buy the U.S. median-priced home of $203,100 with a 20 percent down payment.
CONSUMER PRICES REMAIN STEADY
WASHINGTON — Consumer prices were flat in September as retreating costs for gasoline, clothes and new cars helped to offset rising prices for food, medical care and other things.
The new reading on the Consumer Price Index, the government's most closely watched inflation barometer, came after prices actually dipped by 0.1 percent in August, the Labor Department reported yesterday.
But those two months offered Americans a rare reprieve. Consumer prices have marched upward most of the year, spiking by 1.1 percent in June.
GOOGLE PROFITS BEAT EXPECTATIONS
SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. shook off the economic doldrums to deliver a third-quarter profit that topped analysts' expectations, supporting the Internet search leader's theory that its advertising system will prosper even in tough times.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said yesterday that it made $1.35 billion, or $4.24 per share. The profit rose 26 percent from $1.07 billion, or $3.38 per share, from last year.
Excluding costs for employee stock compensation, Google said it would have made $4.92 per share. That figure surpassed the average estimate of $4.75 per share among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
NORTHWEST PILOTS CHIEF GETS SUPPORT
MINNEAPOLIS — The leader of the pilots union at Northwest Airlines Corp. yesterday received the unanimous backing of the council that runs the union, a rebuke to dissident pilots who questioned the handling of the merger of the union with its counterpart at Delta Air Lines Inc.
The discord comes as Northwest and Delta pilots are going through arbitration to merge their seniority lists in advance of the combination of their airlines.
Dave Stevens, chairman of the Master Executive Council that runs the Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, had a resolution of no confidence brought by himself and two other union officers. Union spokeswoman Doreen Clark said the resolution was never voted on and that instead a "vote of confidence" passed unanimously at the MEC meeting yesterday in Las Vegas.
IBM PROFIT UP 20% FOR QUARTER
SAN FRANCISCO — IBM Corp.'s third-quarter profit jumped nearly 20 percent, surpassing analyst estimates, as the technology company overcame slumping hardware sales and signed a healthy number of new services contracts.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based company had released partial results for the July-September period last week to try to reassure investors who had been driving down the company's stock price.
The move helped stop a steeper decline, but Wall Street was still waiting for word about how much new business IBM brought in during the period.
FUEL COSTS BLAMED FOR AIRLINES' LOSSES
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines Co. saw its first quarterly loss in 17 years, and Continental also lost money because of high summer fuel costs, but airline executives said they are more worried now about a recession.
