Home builders, aided by low mortgage rates and mild weather, broke ground in January on the largest number of projects in nearly two years, raising hopes that the housing market will help pull the economy out of recession. Construction of new homes and apartments climbed last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.68 million units, a 6.3 percent increase over December’s level, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 9.5 percent rise in earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter, matching Wall Street expectations. The retailer said Tuesday it earned $2.19 billion, or 49 cents a share, for the three months ended Jan. 31, up from $2 billion, or 45 cents per share, in the year-ago period. The results matched the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. Revenue rose to $64.8 billion from $57.1 billion a year ago.
United Airlines’ long-grounded stock took off Tuesday, rising 14 percent in its biggest single-day climb in three months as investors and customers alike began returning after the lifting of an imminent strike threat. Still losing millions of dollars a day, United needs mechanics to ratify Tuesday’s contract agreement with union negotiators and then needs to settle another contract impasse with ground workers. Its most pressing labor challenge – wage concessions involving all its employees – still lies ahead. But the tentative settlement with mechanics, averting a strike that could have grounded its planes Wednesday, was a necessary first step that paid some immediate dividends for the nation’s No. 2 airline.
The Treasury Department sold three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.73 percent Tuesday, up from 1.715 percent last week. Six-month bills sold at a rate of 1.83 percent, up from 1.81 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors – 1.76 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,956.30 and 1.872 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,907.50. The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills, the most popular index for changing adjustable rate mortgages, rose to 2.24 percent last week from 2.19 percent the previous week.
From Herald news services
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