Amazon won’t restore Parler web service yet
Amazon won’t be forced to immediately restore web service to Parler after a federal judge ruled Thursday against a plea to reinstate the fast-growing social media app, which is favored by followers of former President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle said she wasn’t dismissing Parler’s “substantive underlying claims” against Amazon, but said it had fallen short in demonstrating the need for an injunction forcing it back online.
Amazon kicked Parler off its web-hosting service on Jan. 11. In court filings, it said the suspension was a “last resort” to block Parler from harboring violent plans to disrupt the presidential transition.
The Seattle tech giant said Parler had shown an “unwillingness and inability” to remove a slew of dangerous posts that called for the rape, torture and assassination of politicians, tech executives and many others.
Georgia city abandons convention center plan
Officials in a coastal Georgia city are abandoning a decades-long plan to build a convention center and hotel, seeking to use money set aside for the project to reduce property taxes.
Brunswick city commissioners on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution declaring the proposed Oglethorpe Conference Center “infeasible.” The Glynn County Commission must now approve a resolution allowing sales tax funds dedicated to the convention center to be repurposed.
Voters would then have to approve a resolution to use the money for something else.
The city would get $1.2 million and the county would get $1.3 million to reduce property taxes.
The convention center was proposed as early as 2001. However, city attorney Brian Corry said the COVID-19 pandemic ended any realistic chance to develop the downtown block as planned. If the city built the conference center and hotel, Corry said it would not generate any revenue in the current economy.
Mortgage rates stay near all-time lows
U.S. long-term mortgage rates slipped this week while remaining at record-low levels.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate home loan eased to 2.77% from 2.79% last week. By contrast, the rate stood at 3.60% a year ago.
The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate loans, popular among homeowners seeking to refinance their mortgages, declined to 2.21% from 2.23%.
The damage from the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. and global economies suppressed home loan rates through most of last year.
Long-term bond yields, which can influence interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, have climbed recently amid expectations of higher U.S. government spending on pandemic relief and an economic recovery as more people get vaccinated for COVID-19.
Economists forecast modest increases in mortgage rates this year. But they likely will remain relatively low as the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates near zero as needed until the economy recovers, Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said Thursday.
CSX freight rises 4% in 4th quarter
CSX railroad reported relatively flat fourth-quarter earnings even though it hauled 4% more freight as the economy continued to rebound from last year’s widespread virus-related shutdowns.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad said Thursday it earned $760 million, or 99 cents per share, during the quarter. That was down slightly from $771 million, or 99 cents per share, a year earlier, but this quarter’s results were hurt by a $48 million charge related to the early retirement of debt. Without that, CSX would have reported earnings per share of $1.04.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1 per share.
The freight railroad posted revenue of $2.83 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.75 billion.