Business in brief: Billionaire denies charges
Houston – Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he swindled investors out of $7 billion as part of a massive investment scam.
A federal magistrate set bond at $500,000 but delayed Stanford’s release until today to give prosecutors time to appeal her decision.
Two family members and a friend agreed to pay the bond.
Stanford entered his plea during his arraignment in federal court. The financier was indicted on charges that his international banking empire was really just a colossal Ponzi scheme.
Mortgage rates mixed this week
Washington – Rates for 30-year home loans edged up this week, remaining above record lows reached over the spring.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.42 percent, up from 5.38 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low of 4.78 percent earlier this year.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.87 percent, down from 4.89 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac.
GM to build car in Michigan
Detroit – Michigan has won the high-stakes competition with two other states to build General Motors Corp.’s next-generation subcompact car, a person briefed on the decision said Thursday.
The announcement that the car will be built at a retooled midsize-car factory in Orion Township near Pontiac will come today, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public. It will save about 1,200 jobs at the factory, which had been slated to shut down later this year.
The Orion plant, about 40 miles north of Detroit, had been in competition with GM factories in Janesville, Wis., and Spring Hill, Tenn., to build the car.
GDP decline appears to slow
Washington – The economy tumbled at a 5.5 percent pace in the first quarter, but appears to be doing better now, even though heavy layoffs persist.
The revised reading on gross domestic product, released Thursday by the Commerce Department, showed the economy from January through March didn’t fall as deeply as the 5.7 percent annualized decline reported a month ago. Economists expected the government would stick with its previous estimate.
Many analysts believe the economy isn’t sinking nearly as much now as the recession eases it grip on the country. For the current April-June quarter, economists predict GDP is sinking at a pace of between 1 percent and 3 percent.