Business Briefing

Mortgage rates drop slightly

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.98% this week, down slightly from 4.99% last week, mortgage company Freddie Mac said.

The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.39% from 4.40% last week. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.25%, down from 4.27%. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 4.29% from 4.32%.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.6 point for 30-year, 15-year and five-year loans. It averaged 0.5 point for one-year loans.

Durable-goods orders edge up

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted a modest increase in December, but the gain was not enough to prevent orders from plunging by a record amount for the entire year.

The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods edged up a slight 0.3% last month, a much weaker showing than the 2% advance economists had been expecting.

For all of 2009, durable goods orders plunged 20.2%, the largest drop on records that go back to 1992.

Initial jobless claims: 470,000

The number of newly laid-off workers claiming unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, fresh evidence that the job market remains a weak spot in the economic recovery.

The Labor Department said first-time jobless claims dropped by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 470,000. Analysts had expected a steeper drop to 450,000, according to Thomson Reuters.

The four-week average, which smooths out volatility, rose for the second straight week to 456,250.

RETAIL

Wal-Mart shuffles U.S. operations

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it was realigning its U.S. operations in an effort to give more autonomy to executives in regional markets and reinvigorate U.S. growth.

Wal-Mart is combining its U.S. realty, store operations and logistics divisions and reorganizing operations under three geographic business units headed up by regional presidents: West, South and North.

“This move will help facilitate our growth as we seek to enter new markets and develop new segments across the U.S. and will drive efficiencies by allowing us to better leverage our resources,” Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright said.

Macy’s said to be cutting 1,500 jobs

Macy’s Inc. is eliminating 1,500 store-level positions effective March 6, two people familiar with the decision said.

The Cincinnati company is firing department managers and merchandising team managers, said the people, who declined to be identified because the cuts haven’t been made public.

EARNINGS

P&G profit drops but tops estimates

Procter & Gamble Co., the world’s largest consumer-products company, reported fiscal second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after price cuts helped boost volume.

Net income in the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell to $4.66 billion, or $1.49 a share, from $5 billion, or $1.58, a year earlier, the Cincinnati company said. Analysts anticipated earnings of $1.43 a share, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

P&G cut prices on 10% of its products, which helped stimulate demand. Sales increased 6.4% to $21 billion after four quarters of declines.

-- times wire reports