August 20, 2010 in Business

In brief: Boeing plans plant near St. Louis

 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Boeing Co. said Thursday that it plans to open a manufacturing facility to work on its defense programs late this year or in early 2011 at a long-troubled southwestern Illinois airport.

The Chicago-based company said the facility at the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, its first manufacturing site in Illinois, will create 75 new jobs and at least potentially more down the road.

Longtime observers of the airport, about 25 miles southeast of St. Louis, said the announcement was a rare bit of good news for the airport, which lost its last passenger service in 2008 and has been a money loser.

Boeing officials said they haven’t decided the specific roles of the new workers, but they will be building components for the company’s St. Louis-based defense business in a leased building at MidAmerica.

Associated Press

Mortgage rates could fall below 4 percent

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates have fallen to the lowest level in decades over the past two months and could dip below 4 percent if the economy worsens.

The average rate for 30-year fixed loans fell this week to 4.42 percent, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. It was the eighth time in nine weeks that rates have fallen to the lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.

Rates could fall to 4 percent sometime next year if the economy slips back into a recession, said Michael Moskowitz, chief executive of Equity Now, a New York-based mortgage lender with operations in six states.

Associated Press

Earnings roundup

From wire reports

• Hewlett-Packard’s net income jumped 6 percent and revenue notched 11 percent higher in HP’s last full quarter under now-ousted CEO Mark Hurd. Net income was $1.77 billion, or 75 cents per share, compared with $1.67 billion, or 69 cents per share, a year ago.

• PC maker Dell Inc.’s net income jumped 16 percent to $545 million, or 28 cents per share, in the fiscal second quarter as businesses replaced aging technology. Revenue climbed 22 percent to $15.5 billion.

• Gap Inc. saw its second-quarter net income rise 3 percent in the second quarter, helped by rising sales at its low-price Old Navy and high-end Banana Republic chains that offset a drop at Gap stores.

• Sears Holdings Corp. cut its second-quarter loss by more than half as profit margins perked up at its Kmart chain, the retailer led by billionaire Edward Lampert said Thursday. Still, the company’s results fell short of expectations. Weak shopper spending and increased competition, especially on food, led to a revenue decline.

• Staples Inc., the largest U.S. office-supply retailer, said Thursday its second-quarter net income rose 40 percent as the company cut costs to offset nearly flat revenue.

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