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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Thursday, September 21, 2000

High-tech group hooks up on Kauai

The Hawaii Technology Trade Association plans to launch its third neighbor island chapter, this time on Kauai, at a meeting on Sept. 27 at 11:30 a.m., in the Masters dining room of the Kauai Lagoons.

The association, formed a year ago to promote Hawaii's fledgling technology companies, already has chapters on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island, and more than 200 member companies. The group is also creating an advisory council aimed in part at serving the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility, an advanced-tracking center on Kauai. Nani Marston of Trex Enterprises will serve as vice chairwoman of the Kauai Chapter, while Roger Jacobs of Data Space Industries will become secretary and Carolyn Iwai of the Kauai Economic Development Board will be treasurer.

30-year mortgages inch up to 7.90%

WASHINGTON -- Rates on 30-year mortgages edged up this week but were still below the 8 percent mark for the sixth week in a row. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 7.90 percent this week, up from 7.88 percent last week, according to a survey released today by mortgage broker Freddie Mac.

Fifteen-year mortgages dipped to an average 7.57 percent this week from 7.60 percent last week. One-year mortgages averaged an initial rate of 7.27 percent, up from last week's rate of 7.26 percent.

Intel warning hammers stock

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Intel Corp. said late today that it has reduced its third-quarter revenue estimates due to weak European demand.

Intel's stock, which closed today at $61.48 in regular Nasdaq trading, fell below $50 in after-hours electronic trading.

The news was also dragging down other computer-related shares.

Intel now expects third-quarter sales to be up about 3 percent to 5 percent from the second quarter's $8.3 billion, below its unspecified previous estimates.

American Air pilots say no to extension

Pilots at American Airlines overwhelmingly have rejected a one-year contract extension, dealing a blow to the airline's efforts to improve relations with one of its most critical employee groups.

About 66 percent of the 8,200 pilots who participated in the vote cast ballots against the agreement. Yesterday's result is a setback for both Donald J. Carty, the chief executive of the AMR Corp., the parent of American, and Richard T. LaVoy and Brian A. Mayhew, president and vice president of the Allied Pilots Association. All three men had hailed the contract extension, which was announced in July, as the foundation of a new relationship between the airline and union.

Past strains between the two sides led pilots to stage an extensive sickout in early 1999, forcing American to cancel 6,700 flights and disrupting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Two years earlier, the union went out on strike but was immediately forced back to work by President Clinton.

The rejection means that the union and the company will begin negotiating a new contract next June, just before the current agreement comes up for renewal. The rejected deal would have extended the contract until Aug. 31, 2002.

In other news . . .

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co. offered to buy the 18.5 percent of No. 1 car-rental company Hertz Corp. it doesn't already own for about $597 million, as the automaker focuses on services related to its vehicle business.