Hankook breaks ground on new plant in Clarksville
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Hankook Tire has broken ground on an $800 million plant in Clarksville that is expected to create 1,800 jobs. Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander joined local and company officials Thursday for the event.
Hankook, the world's seventh-largest tire maker, announced last year that it will build the facility, and the Tennessee State Funding Board approved $16 million in incentives for the project Wednesday.
Hankook officials plan to begin making high-end performance tires by early 2016 and hope to make 11 million tires annually. Clarksville is also home to a steel cord plant for Japanese tire maker Bridgestone, which has its Americas headquarters in Nashville.
Nissan, General Motors and Volkswagen have assembly plants in Tennessee, and more than 900 further automotive sector companies are active in the state. Ford, GM and Toyota build vehicles in neighboring Kentucky.
UAW not eyeing BMW for now
The United Auto Workers has launched non-dues-paying locals near Volkswagen in Chattanooga and Mercedes in Vance, Ala., but it's not yet looking at opening one near BMW Manufacturing Co. in Greer, S.C., a top union official said.
Gary Casteel, the UAW's secretary-treasurer, told GSA Business that the union is focused now on the Tennessee and Alabama plants of the German automakers.
"While we believe BMW employees in the Palmetto State deserve the same kind of representation that their colleagues enjoy elsewhere in the world, there are no imminent plans to establish a local union there," he said. "The situations in Alabama and Tennessee are different than South Carolina."
Casteel said the Chattanooga local is engaged in conversations with Volkswagen and the Alabama local has "the unqualified support of the Daimler World Employee Committee." BMW didn't answer request for comment.
Jobless claims decline last week
Slightly fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, pushing the average number of applications in the past month to an eight-year low.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 287,000 in the week ended Oct. 4. That is the fourth straight week that applications have been below 300,000, a clear sign of a job market on the mend.
Applications for jobless benefits have fallen 9 percent in the past month. That suggests employers are keeping their workers, likely because they expect continued economic growth and may be contemplating more hires.
"With the pace of firings exceptionally low, and surveys signaling robust hiring, we have to expect very strong payroll growth" in the next several months, said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Wells Fargo settles bias claims
The federal government said Thursday that it reached a $5 million settlement with Wells Fargo to resolve allegations it discriminated against pregnant women, new mothers and women on maternity leave.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said Wells Fargo's home mortgage unit refused to make loans available to some women based on their gender or family status, and forced some women to give up their maternity leave and go back to work before it would close a loan with them. HUD said bank employees also made discriminatory statements to and about women who were pregnant or had recently given birth.
The agency said Wells Fargo will change its underwriting guidelines as part of the settlement and will show its staff how to follow the new guidelines. Wells Fargo & Co. said it is settling to avoid a long legal battle. It said HUD found no violations of any laws.
The San Francisco company will distribute a total of $165,000 to six families. It will also set aside at least $3.5 million to compensate other applicants who were discriminated against.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is the largest U.S. provider of home mortgage loans.
Mortgage rates fall again
Average U.S. mortgage rates fell for the third straight week, making it more affordable to borrow to buy a home.
Mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday that the nationwide average for a 30-year loan fell to 4.12 percent from 4.19 percent last week. The average for a 15-year mortgage, a popular choice for people who are refinancing, also declined to 3.3 percent from 3.36 percent.
The 30-year rate is down from 4.53 percent at the start of the year.