In Brief: Number of people seeking unemployment drops

WASHINGTON – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 26,000 last week to 319,000, the latest sign that the job market is slowly improving.

The drop follows two weeks of increases that reflected mostly temporary layoffs around the Easter holiday. Those earlier increases caused the four-week average of applications, a less volatile number, to rise 4,500 to a seasonally adjusted 324,750.

With the impact of the holiday fading, applications are returning to prerecession levels. The average fell in early April to 312,000, the fewest since October 2007. The recession officially began in December 2007.

Yellen: Fed will keep bonds for a while

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Thursday that the Fed’s bond holdings will likely remain at high levels for up to eight years after it starts raising short-term interest rates.

Yellen made clear that the Fed’s investment portfolio, now at a record $4.3 trillion, will decline only gradually. She said it could take five to eight years for the portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities to return to the level in 2008 before the Fed began aggressively buying bonds.

The bond purchases were intended to lower long-term borrowing rates to stimulate a weak economic recovery. The Fed has gradually lowered the pace of its monthly purchases from $85 billion to $45 billion.

Yellen was responding to a question posed at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

Costco sales metric beats expectations

ISSAQUAH, Wash. – Costco said Thursday that its sales at stores open at least a year climbed 5 percent in April, beating Wall Street’s estimate.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast a 3.2 percent rise. This figure is a key indicator of a retailer’s health. It excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

In the U.S. the metric increased 5 percent. It rose 2 percent overseas.

Removing higher gas prices and foreign currency fluctuation, sales at stores open at least a year still climbed 5 percent for the total company and for U.S. locations. Internationally, the figure increased 7 percent.

Total revenue for the four weeks ended May 4 rose 7 percent to $8.56 billion.

Costco Wholesale Corp. said that there was one less selling day in the period which accounts for a shift in the timing of Easter. The wholesale club operator said that the later Easter this year hurt its total revenue and same-store sales by 1.5 percent to 2 percent.

For the year to date, the Issaquah-based company said that sales at stores open at least a year rose 3 percent. The metric rose 4 percent in the U.S. and edged up 1 percent abroad.

Excluding higher gas prices and foreign currency fluctuation, sales at stores open at least a year increased 5 percent. It rose 5 percent in the U.S. and rose 7 percent overseas.

Total revenue for the year to date increased 6 percent to $73.21 billion.

U.S. mortgage rate continues descent

WASHINGTON – Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages this week fell for a second straight week as the spring home-buying season has gotten off to a slow start.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for the 30-year loan declined to 4.21 percent from 4.29 percent last week. The average for the 15-year mortgage eased to 3.32 percent from 3.38 percent.