SAN FRANCISCO >> Nasdaq has long been known as the “tech-heavy” stock exchange, where some of Silicon Valley’s best-known companies have gone to sell shares. Now, as it faces stiff competition from rival exchanges to lure the next hot IPO, it’s reaching out to business startups before they go public.

New York-based Nasdaq, through an affiliated foundation, is opening what it calls an “Entrepreneurial Center” on Thursday in a trendy commercial district south of San Francisco’s Market Street. It’s promising business training, mentoring and networking opportunities for early-stage startup founders — maybe even the next Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page. Nasdaq executives say they have a long tradition of working with young companies, and the new center is open to entrepreneurs in other sectors besides tech. Still, it’s no coincidence the center is in a region rife with new tech startups. Facebook, Google and Apple are all traded on Nasdaq.

U.S. new-home sales surge 5.7%

WASHINGTON >> Buoyed by steady job gains and low mortgage rates, Americans purchased new homes in August at the fastest pace in more than seven years.

New-home sales soared 5.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That is the strongest pace since February 2008, near the beginning of the Great Recession. Last month’s increase followed an even bigger 12 percent jump in July, according to the government’s revised figures.

Healthy hiring and smaller price increases for new homes have finally begun pushing up sales, which were hammered during the Great Recession and recovered slowly even after the downturn ended in 2009. New-home sales have jumped nearly 22 percent in the past year.

Caterpillar job cuts could top 10,000

Caterpillar is planning another round of job cuts that could exceed 10,000 people through 2018, as the construction and mining equipment maker adjusts to downturns in key markets. That could amount to more than 8 percent of the 126,800 employees it had globally as of June.

The Peoria, Ill., company said Thursday that it will cut as many as 5,000 people mostly by the end of this year from its salaried and management workforce. It then could cut thousands more, raising the total above 10,000, as it figures out which factories and manufacturing sites to close through 2018.

Applications rise for U.S. jobless aid

WASHINGTON >> The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose slightly last week yet remained at a low level consistent with solid job growth.

Weekly applications for jobless aid rose 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average, a less volatile figure, declined to 271,750. Applications are a proxy for layoffs, and the low readings suggest Americans are enjoying solid job security. Steady economic growth has encouraged employers to hold onto the workers they already have and is spurring more hiring. The four-week average fell to a 15-year low last month.

Average rate on 30-year mortgage dips to 3.86%

WASHINGTON >> Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates declined this week following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates at record lows for now.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.86 percent from 3.91 percent a week earlier. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgage eased to 3.08 percent from 3.11 percent.

Rates have stayed below 4 percent for nine straight weeks.

Fed policymakers announced Sept. 17 they had decided to keep a key short-term interest rate close to zero in the face of threats from a weak global economy, persistently low inflation and unstable financial markets. But Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said a rate hike was still likely this year. A majority of Fed officials on the committee that sets the federal funds rate — which controls the interest that banks charge each other — still foresee higher rates before next year. The Fed will meet next in October and then December.

A rate hike by the Fed could bring higher rates for home loans. The Fed has kept the federal funds rate near zero since the financial crisis struck seven years ago.

On the Move

>> Kaiser Permanente has announced the addition of new physicians:

— Dr. Eduardo Villasenor joined the department of general surgery at Wailuku Medical Office. He was previously at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center practicing in their its general surgery department in Vallejo, Calif.

— Dr. Syki Wells practices hospital medicine at Moanalua Medical Center. She previously served as a nocturnist and hospitalist for Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, caring for Kaiser Permanente patients hospitalized at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: