Average 30-year mortgage rate rises to 4.48 percent

WASHINGTON >> Average U.S. rates for fixed mortgages crept higher this week but remained low by historical standards.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan increased to 4.48 percent from 4.47 percent last week. The average on the 15-year fixed loan rose to 3.52 percent from 3.51 percent.

Mortgage rates peaked at 4.6 percent in August on expectations that the Federal Reserve would reduce its $85 billion-a-month in bond purchases. Those purchases push mortgage and other long-term rates lower and encourage borrowing and spending. On Dec. 18 the Fed finally decided the economy was strong enough to allow it to reduce the monthly purchases by $10 billion.

Mortgage rates are sharply higher than they were a year ago when the 30-year fixed rate was 3.35 percent and the 15-year rate was 2.65 percent.

Maui restaurant owners form partnership

The owners of the Pineapple Grill and Plantation House restaurants on Maui are forming a 50-50 partnership effective Jan. 1.

The Pineapple Grill in Kapa­lua is owned by David and Lesley Cohn, and is part of the Cohn Restaurant Group based in San Diego. The Plantation House, owned by George and Hemma Mackin, is in Lahaina.

Cohn Restaurant Group will take over management and operations of both restaurants under the partnership agreement, said Chris Kaiwi, general manager of the Pineapple Grill.

None of the employees at either restaurant will be affected by the partnership, Kaiwi said.

Empire State Building IPO attacked in suit

NEW YORK » Thousands of stakeholders in the Empire State Building lost more than $400 million in potential profits when the managing owners rebuffed potential buyers to sell public shares in the iconic skyscraper, a new lawsuit says.

By spurning all-cash offers for the tower and instead packaging it with lesser-known office properties into a publicly traded stock, father-and-son real estate magnates Peter and Anthony Malkin put their interests ahead of those of the building’s longtime investors, lawyer John Rizio-Hamilton said Thursday. He represents one of those investors, who filed the suit Tuesday seeking class-action status on behalf of roughly 3,000 people who hold Empire State Building shares that were sold privately in 1961.

The Malkins’ company, Empire State Realty Trust, said the suit’s claims were "wholly without merit."

Completed in 1931, the 102-story skyscraper was the world’s tallest building until the World Trade Center supplanted it in 1972. When the Empire State Building changed hands in 1961, the buyers sold shares at $10,000 each to help finance the deal.

This year the Malkins spearheaded a public offering plan that combined the skyscraper with 11 other properties in their portfolio in New York and Connecticut. After a $55 million settlement in May resolved a lawsuit from some of the Empire State Building stakeholders opposing the IPO, shares began trading publicly in October at $13 each. The stock closed Thursday at $15.32.

The new suit says the $13-a-share price valued the skyscraper at $1.89 billion — but when several developers came forward between June and September with cash offers as high as $2.3 billion, the Malkins turned them down.

Weekly U.S. jobless claims fall by 42,000

WASHINGTON » The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by 42,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 338,000, the biggest drop since November 2012. But economists say the figures from late November and December are warped by seasonal volatility around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the less volatile four-week average rose 4,250 to 348,000.

Claims had jumped 75,000 over the two weeks that ended Dec. 14 before plunging last week. The Labor Department struggles to account for seasonal hiring by retailers and other businesses and for temporary layoffs of cafeteria workers and other employees at schools that close for the holidays.

Japan’s economy sees continued recovery

TOKYO » Japanese consumer prices rose last month, showing that the country’s economy continues to recover.

Government data released today in Japan showed that consumer prices excluding food rose 1.2 percent in November compared with the same month last year. It is the largest gain since November 2008.

Industrial output rose 0.1 percent, the third straight month of a rise. The unemployment rate stayed at 4 percent, while jobs available rose but by less than the month before.

Economists say the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy of depreciating the yen and increasing the money supply combined with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic strategy such as spending on public works projects has been helping the world’s third-largest economy get back on its feet.

Cessna parent to purchase Beechcraft

WICHITA, Kan. » The parent company of Cessna Aircraft says it has reached an agreement to buy Beechcraft Corp. for approximately $1.4 billion. The purchase was announced Thursday night by Providence, R.I.-based Textron Inc., and would bring two mainstays of Wichita’s general aviation industry under a single corporate leadership.

Textron chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly said Beechcraft’s King Air line of aircraft complements Cessna’s Caravan and Citation jet lineup.

On the Move

Hawaii’s ESPN 1420 and NBC Sports Radio on AM 1500 have announced Colette Corbin is now an account manager. Her experience includes serving in the sales department at Cox Media Group in Hono­lulu as well as working in customer service for 24 Hour Fitness in Hono­lulu and providing on-air broadcast support for Max Radio of the Caro­linas in North Caro­lina.

IC International, a premier wholesale provider of excess and surplus insurance in Hawaii, has appointed Nolan Kawano as president. He was previously a senior vice president and chief financial officer of Island Insurance for 12 years. He has also served in various management positions at First Insurance Co. of Hawaii, the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund and KPMG.

Michael G. Wright has announced that he is leaving his position as executive vice president of A&B Properties at the end of the year. He will establish a consulting and investment practice, where he will provide clients guidance on Hawaii real estate.  

Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, presented a check for $250,000 earlier this month to Kapiolani Health Foundation in support of the Campaign for Hawaii’s Children. The money will help support the keiki play area in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit building.