The Company Lab seeks applicants for startup accelerator
The Company Lab has began taking applications for its summer 2018 startup accelerator programs on lifestyle and consumer goods and its annual GigTank program, which focuses on next generation internet applications.
Both programs will take place May 15 through July 31. The accelerators are designed for high-growth startups working to scale their companies through the pursuit of pilot partnerships, angel or venture capital, and new customers.
“Chattanooga is home to a booming outdoor recreation scene and a thriving food and beverage production industry,” said Marcus Shaw, chief executive of Co.Lab. “We believe Chattanooga’s recent growth reflects an opportune moment for companies looking to break into a ripe consumer market.”
Mortgage rates up for 5th week
Long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed for the fifth straight week amid investors’ growing concern about inflation.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages shot up to 4.32 percent this week, up from 4.22 percent last week and the highest since December 2016. A year ago, it stood at 4.17 percent.
The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate loans, popular among homeowners who refinance, rose to 3.77 percent from 3.68 percent last week and the highest since May 2011. It was 3.39 percent a year ago.
A strong U.S. economy is raising fears that inflation may be on the rise; investors are demanding higher interest rates. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes, which influences mortgage rates, has risen the past week to 2.88 percent from 2.78 percent.
“Will higher rates break housing-market momentum? It’s too early to tell for sure,” said Len Kiefer, a Freddie Mac economist. He noted that applications to buy homes are still up 8 percent from a year ago.
The rate on five-year adjustable rate mortgages rose to 3.57 percent this week from 3.53 percent last week and the highest since April 2011. It was 3.21 percent a year ago.
Airline ‘bumping’ falls to record low
Airlines bumped passengers off flights at the lowest rate on record last year after United Airlines was pilloried when a passenger was dragged off a full plane.
The Transportation Department said Thursday that airlines bumped about one passenger in every 29,000 in 2017, roughly half the rate of the year before.
The figures don’t count passengers who accept travel vouchers or other offers to voluntarily give up their seat on an oversold flight.
Meanwhile, there was a spike in long delays that trapped passengers in planes on the ground. Most occurred during a power outage that shut down the Atlanta airport, and many others were during a snowstorm a few days earlier, also in Atlanta.
Senate panel OKs Goodfriend for Fed
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Marvin Goodfriend for a seat on the Federal Reserve board has been narrowly approved by a Senate committee on a straight party-line vote.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-12 on Thursday to approve Goodfriend’s nomination to the seven-member Fed board. Only Republicans supported the nomination. All Democrats opposed it. The closeness of the vote indicates that Goodfriend, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, could face significant opposition when his nomination goes before the full Senate where Republicans have a one-vote majority.
Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the top Democrat on the committee, said Goodfriend’s past support for imposing restrictions on the Fed’s independence and for eliminating the central bank’s mandate to seek maximum employment were troubling.
“The stakes are too high for workers and for the economy,” Brown said. “We can’t take a chance on someone with a decades-long record of prioritizing hypothetical inflation over real people losing their jobs.”