Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, November 19, 1998
Moody's lowers Queen's debt rating
Moody's Investors Service today issued a one-notch downgrade for about $235 million of state bonds issued to finance the Queen's Health System.The downgrade, similar to one made Oct. 30 by the Standard & Poor's rating service, lowered the Queen's bonds to A1, at the top end of Moody's A bracket. Queen's had been rated Aa3, at the low end of Moody's Aa bracket.
Like S&P, Moody's said it was concerned about greater losses than had been expected for Queen's financial year that ended June 30. However, Moody's said the system's future outlook is stable.
Joel Kennedy, a Queen's spokesman, said Moody's action was "not unexpected."
Mortgage rates fall to 6.86 percent
McLEAN, Va. -- The benchmark U.S. mortgage rate fell this week, holding below 7 percent for a record 23 consecutive week.The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.86 percent this week from last week's 6.93 percent, according to mortgage broker Freddie Mac.
The report also showed the average rate on an adjustable mortgage fell to 5.52 percent this week from 5.56 percent last week; and the 15-year mortgage rate edged down to 6.51 percent from 6.57 percent.
Delta Air to raise salaries 2 percent
ATLANTA -- Delta Air Lines Inc. said it will give its 50,000 U.S. employees a 2 percent pay raise, part of an effort to appease pilots who made pay concessions in a 1994 cost-cutting plan.The 2 percent raise comes as Delta also shifts money out of a profit-sharing plan and adds it to employees' base salaries.
The two actions mean paychecks will rise an average 8 percent effective Jan. 1, Delta spokeswoman Katie Moussouri said.
The Atlanta-based airline's 9,000 pilots must approve the pay increase because they are covered by a labor contract.
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