Business in brief: Intuit holds ceremony at new Quincy center

Quincy, Wash. – Financial software company Intuit Inc. on Thursday held a dedication ceremony at its Quincy data center, a $200 million project that is the third facility of its kind in Grant County.

Intuit’s new building is the California software company’s primary data site for its main products such as QuickBooks and TurboTax, said Bruce Eisele, the company’s production operations manager.

The 240,000-square-foot facility is situated east of similar centers that were built in 2007 by Yahoo and Microsoft. The three companies cited environmental stability, low power costs and a business-friendly community as reasons for choosing Quincy.

A fourth data center is also planned; Seattle-based Sabey Corp. announced this year it will build a center in the Quincy area.

Boeing settles claim over tanker work

Washington – Boeing Co. agreed Thursday to pay the U.S. government $25 million to settle claims the company did defective work on critical military refueling planes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The settlement arose out of a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in Texas by two former Boeing workers who will now receive $2.6 million for drawing attention to the issue.

The Justice Department had investigated the Chicago-based aerospace giant for allegedly defective work on the Air Force fleet of KC-10 Extenders, which are used for in-flight refueling in the Iraq and Afghanistan war theaters.

The work was done while performing maintenance on the planes at the Boeing Aerospace Support Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Nordstrom profit off, better than expected

Seattle – Luxury retailer Nordstrom Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter profit fell 27 percent but met analyst expectations as the company tightly managed its inventory and lowered its prices in an effort to offset slumping sales.

Nordstrom executives said results came in better than planned and raised the company’s full-year outlook.

Second-quarter profit fell to $105 million, or 48 cents per share, from $143 million, or 65 cents per share in the same period last year. That matched analysts expectations, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue fell 6 percent to $2.14 billion from $2.29 billion last year.

30-year mortgage rates up from last week

McLean, Va. – Rates on 30-year mortgages rose this week, remaining above 5 percent after reaching a record low earlier this year, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.29 percent this week, up from 5.22 percent last week, Freddie Mac said. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.52 percent.

Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped to a record low of 4.78 percent earlier this year, but have been above 5 percent since June.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.68 percent, an increase from 4.63 percent last week, Freddie Mac said.