Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages backed off from yearly lows this week, but still remain historically cheap.

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Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac says the average rate rose to 4.75 percent, up from 4.72 percent last week. The rate hit 4.71 percent in December, the lowest since Freddie Mac began keeping records in 1971.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage edged up to 4.2 percent, up from its all-time low of 4.17 percent set last week.

A Federal Reserve program to reduce borrowing costs for consumers pushed rates down to extraordinarily low levels last year. Rates were expected to rise after the campaign ended this spring, but have declined instead over the past two months as investors shifted money into the safety of U.S. Treasury bonds.

Concerns over the European debt crisis and the volatile stock market have made U.S. Treasury debt more attractive. And mortgage rates tend to follow the yield on U.S. Treasury debt. [Read the full article]

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says European Union leaders will call for a a global tax on financial transactions.

He says the 27 leaders want the United States and others to back a tax at a Group of 20 summit of rich and emerging nations in Toronto next week -- despite opposition from some nations. [Read the full article]

Raymond Sanchez Jr., right, a recruiting agent for New York Life Insurance Company speaks to a job applicant during the New York Career Fair, Wednesday, June 16, 2010, in New York. The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped last week after three straight declines, another sign that hiring remains weak.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped last week after three straight declines, another sign that the pace of layoffs has not slowed.

Initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the highest level in a month and overshadowed a report that showed consumer prices remain essentially flat.

A rise in first-time jobless claims, combined with this week's report that said new home construction plunged in May after government incentives expired, highlighted fears about the strength of the economic rebound. [Read the full article]

Toyota will restart the delayed construction of its Mississippi plant, which will provide 2,000 jobs and be up and running by the fall of next year, the Japanese automaker said Thursday.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s auto plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, was initially planned to be completed by 2010, but building was suspended after the U.S. economy nose-dived in late 2008.

The Mississippi plant will make 150,000 Corolla compact cars a year, moving back to North America production Toyota had temporarily shifted to Japan when it pulled out of a California joint venture with General Motors Co. in April, Toyota said. [Read the full article]