Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, October 30, 1997
30-year mortgage rates fall amid stock turmoil
WASHINGTON -- Thirty-year fixed-rate home mortgage rates fell in response to the stock market plunge this week.The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell to 7.21 percent this week from 7.35 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac.
Freddie Mac also reported that the average adjustable mortgage rate mortgage declined to 5.46 percent from 5.55 percent. Fifteen-year mortgage rates averaged 6.76 percent, down from 6.90 percent.
As the stock market took its worst beating of the decade earlier this week, investors bought bonds as a safe haven, pushing prices up and yields down -- and paving the way for lower mortgage rates.
A&B closes purchase of Calif. shopping mall
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. said it completed the previously announced $13 million purchase of the Village at Indian Wells, a shopping center in Southern California.Located in an affluent resort community near Palm Desert, the 105,000-square-foot shopping center has 36 tenants and is 95 percent occupied, A&B said.
A&B has been adding to its property portfolio and now owns more than 3 million square feet of retail, office and commercial space in Hawaii and on the mainland.
Pacific Orient opens antique furniture store
Pacific Orient Traders, a Honolulu wholesaler and retailer of antique furniture from China, has opened a showroom in the City Square Annex, next to the former GEM store in Kapalama.Owned by Richard and Shawn Krajchir, Pacific Orient Traders has an inventory of certified antiques from the Ching and Quing dynasties in China, all of it more than 100 years old.
Krajchir previously sold antique furniture as a wholesaler to C.S. Wo Gallery and other island stores.
Silicon Graphics CEO quits as jobs are cut
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Silicon Graphics Inc. said its chief executive, Ed McCracken, will step down from the helm of the computer maker amid a management shakeup and the elimination of 700 to 1,000 jobs.In a statement, Silicon Graphics said it will take a $50 million charge in its current second quarter of fiscal 1998, primarily to account for the job cuts.
Gary Lauer, executive vice president of worldwide field operations, also has resigned.