Short Reports

Mortgage rates were mixed this week, with 30-year mortgages edging down slightly. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages declined to 8.12 percent for the week ending Aug. 4, compared with 8.13 percent the previous week, according to a survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the mortgage company.

Boeing Co. has agreed to a $61.5 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower who accused the company of installing faulty gears in at least two Army helicopters that crashed, the Justice Department said. The suit was filed in 1995 by Brett Roby and later was taken over by the federal government.

Orders to American factories surged by the largest amount in nine years, but the nation’s biggest retailers reported lackluster sales in an economy sending mixed signals Thursday about whether the slowdown is really here.

The Commerce Department said factory orders jumped 5.5 percent in June, the biggest advance since July 1991, led by a record 42.2 percent increase in orders for aircraft and other transportation products.