Business briefs: Hecla to ring NYSE bell to celebrate 50 years on exchange

Hecla Mining Co. will celebrate its 50th year on the New York Stock Exchange by ringing the bell at the market’s close on at 4 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.

“To trade on the NYSE for 50 years is a tremendous achievement. I thank the entire Hecla team, both past and present, and all our stakeholders who have helped us reach this milestone,” said Phillips S. Baker Jr., the company’s president and CEO.

Founded in 1891, Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla touts itself as North America’s oldest precious metals mining company.

In addition to the Lucky Friday mine in Idaho’s Silver Valley, Hecla operates the Greens Creek silver mine in Alaska and the Casa Berardi gold mine in Quebec.  Projected 2015 production is 10.5 million ounces of silver and 185,000 ounces of gold.

GM ignition switch death toll rises to 74

DETROIT – Families of at least 74 people killed in crashes caused by defective General Motors ignition switches will get compensation from the company.

Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was hired by GM to compensate victims, updated the total Monday. It was up from 67 last week.

An additional 126 injured people also are eligible for compensation.

The fund received a total of 4,342 claims by the Jan. 31 deadline. Of those, 1,326 are still under review. Feinberg said more than half were ineligible or lacked documentation.

GM knew about problem switches in Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for more than a decade but recalled them only last year. They can slip out of the “on” position, which cuts off the engine, knocks out power steering and turns off air bags.

U.S. home sales saw slight rise in February

WASHINGTON – U.S. home sales picked up slightly in February but remain sluggish due to tight inventories, affordability problems and nasty winter weather.

Sales of existing homes rose 1.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.88 million, a slight rebound after plunging in January, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

The real estate market has hibernated through the first two months of 2015. Strong job growth and relatively low mortgage rates have failed to awaken buyers. Meanwhile, relatively few homes are being listed for sale and builders are mostly catering to the wealthiest slivers of the market. Sales are running below last year’s pace of 4.93 million, which represented a 3.1 percent drop from 2013.

Despite February’s uptick, buying activity appears to have been slow coming into March because of a series of harsh winter storms in the East. The weather last month shut down construction and hurt open houses, likely putting a limit on buying activity this month.

Sales tumbled 6.5 percent last month in the Northeast, which was hammered hard by snow, the Realtors said. Home-buying was unchanged in the Midwest and increased in the South and West.