Passenger traffic at Logan back to pre-pandemic levels

MORTGAGES

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped this week to a four-month low, a welcome decline in borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers grappling with the challenge of record-high home prices and a dearth of properties on the market. The rate fell to 6.77 percent from 6.89 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, it averaged 6.78 percent. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week, pulling the average rate down to 6.05 percent from 6.17 percent last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.06 percent, Freddie Mac said. After jumping to a 23-year high of 7.79 percent in October, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has mostly hovered around 7 percent this year — more than double what it was just three years ago. Rates have eased recently as signs of cooling inflation have heightened expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark rate as early as September. Elevated mortgage rates, which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, have discouraged home shoppers this year, extending the nation’s housing slump into its third year. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

FINANCIAL

The Biden administration is cancelling an additional $1.2 billion in student loans for borrowers who work in public service through changes to an existing forgiveness program. The relief for roughly 35,000 borrowers was announced Thursday by the Education Department and made through changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which benefits workers such as teachers, nurses and firefighters. Those qualifying for forgiveness have their remaining loan balance eliminated after making 120 qualifying monthly payments. The public service forgiveness program was created by Congress in 2007, but many borrowers were not able to get the cancellation they had worked towards due to strict rules and mistakes by loan servicers in tallying their payments. Under the Biden administration, some rules were adjusted and retroactively gave many borrowers credit toward their 10 years of payments. The announcement comes amid legal back and forth over the administration’s larger plans for student loan forgiveness, which faces challenges from Republican-led states. In June, judges in two federal cases opposing the new SAVE plan, which included lowered monthly payments and a faster path to forgiveness, issued injunctions stopping the plan from going into effect. But shortly after, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in one of the lawsuits, allowing the Education Department to move ahead with lowered monthly payments. Biden’s original plan for one-time debt cancellation was overturned by the Supreme Court, which said the move overstepped the president’s authority. With this latest round of loan cancellation, the administration has now forgiven $168.5 billion in student debt for 4.76 million borrowers. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUTOMOTIVE

Ford Motor said Thursday it would retool a plant in Canada to produce large pickup trucks rather than the electric sport utility vehicles it had previously planned to make there. The move is the latest example of how automakers are pulling back on aggressive investment plans in response to the slowing growth of electric vehicle sales. On Wednesday, General Motors said it now expected to make 200,000 to 250,000 battery-powered cars and trucks this year, about 50,000 fewer than it had previously forecast. The Ford plant, in Oakville, Ontario, recently stopped making the gasoline-powered Ford Edge SUV and was slated to shift to new electric versions of the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, both three-row SUVs. Instead, Ford will turn the factory in Oakville into a third production location for its Super Duty pickup trucks, which are among its most profitable models. Super Duty trucks are typically used to haul heavy equipment and materials by building contractors, oil and gas companies and other businesses. In recent months, Ford and General Motors have slowed the pace of their investments in electric vehicles, delaying some new models and work on battery plants they had been rushing to build. Just a few years ago, GM and Ford expected to make more than 1 million electric vehicles a year by the middle of the decade. Mary T. Barra, CEO of GM, said this week that the company might not meet that goal. — NEW YORK TIMES

Financial

European Central Bank policymakers held interest rates steady Thursday, as they reiterated their cautious approach to cutting rates as inflation bumps around above the bank’s target. The ECB kept the key deposit rate at 3.75 percent, which it expects to be restrictive enough to tamp down demand for household and business loans, slow the eurozone economy and restrain inflationary pressures. Last month, policymakers cut the interest rate a quarter point, the first reduction in nearly five years and a tentative step toward easing. Inflation in the eurozone has fallen a long way from its double-digit highs in late 2022, and policymakers are trying to ensure it returns sustainably to their 2 percent target. Average inflation across the 20 countries that use the euro was 2.5 percent in June, slightly lower than it was in May but higher than in April. Investors widely expected the bank to hold rates at this meeting, but are still betting that there will be one or two more rate cuts this year. The ECB next meets to set policy in mid-September, when it will also present new inflation and growth forecasts by the bank’s staff. Traders are betting that there is about an 80 percent chance of a cut at that meeting. The ECB, like other major central banks, has been searching for a balance of interest rates that are high enough to maintain low inflation but not so high they cause excessive damage to the economy. Some other European central banks, including in Sweden and Switzerland, have cut rates. The US Federal Reserve and Bank of England have not, but their officials have indicated that rate cuts are the most likely next step. — NEW YORK TIMES