Source: USA TODAY

Bill Gates is back on top of the world again. Or at least on top of the list of the world’s richest people, where your net worth has to be well above $55 billion to be in the club.

Gates is co-founder of tech giant MIcrosoft, based in Redmond, Wash. He regained the title after Microsoft shares, up 28% so far this year, closed at a five-year high Thursday for the second time this week.

Gates has donated $28 billion of his fortune to the 14-year-old Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he and his wife and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett operate as one of the world’s wealthiest philanthropic organizations.

Gates, 57, hasn’t been No. 1 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index since 2007 and his fortune, valued at $72.7 billion, is up 15% year to date. Less than 25% of his fortune is held in shares of Microsoft, maker of Windows — the world’s dominant PC operating system.

Gates recaptured the honor from Mexican investor Carlos Slim, 73, who has watched the value of the shares of his America Movil decline 14% this year. America Movil is the largest cellphone carrier in the Americas and its stock price drop has slashed some $3 billion from the telecom tycoon’s net worth.

Mexico’s Congress recently approved a law aimed at deregulating the telecom industry that could force Slim to break up America Movil or charge lower rates in Mexico, where his company is the dominant carrier. He might see America Movil’s shares move even lower.

Famed investor Buffett is the world’s third-richest person with $59.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg ranking. Buffett, 82, is worth about $3.7 billion more than Amancio Ortega Gaona, Europe’s wealthiest person. Buffett is chairman and CEO of investing conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, headquartered in Omaha, Neb.

Ortega, 77, is co-founder of the Spanish fashion apparel company Inditex group. Inditex’ most well-known brand is its Zara apparel-store chain, which recently joined other European retailers in a pact to improve safety and working conditions in Bangladesh after two back-to-back fatal garment factory disasters.

According to Bloomberg Business News, the net worth of individuals on its billionaires index is calculated and updated daily after financial markets close in the U.S.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Initial claims for unemployment benefits hit the lowest level since January 2008 the week ended May 4, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.

First-time claims for jobless benefits fell a seasonally adjusted 4,000 to an upwardly revised 323,000, bolstering the view that the jobs market is improving. However, many economists remain skeptical that a big surge in job creation will occur the rest of the year.

The four-week moving average of claims for jobless benefits, a more reliable measure of the widely followed jobs outlook proxy, fell 6,250 to 336,750, BLS said.

Friday, the Labor Department said the economy added 165,000 jobs in April, after an initial report for March estimated only 88,000. The March number was also revised up last week — to 138,000. And the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.5% from 7.6% a month earlier.

However, a USA TODAY survey of economists after the April employment failed to change the consensus view that economic growth is likely to suffer a sharp slowdown in the second and third quarters of 2013.

Only four of 37 economists surveyed said the stronger-than-expected jobs reported reduced their fears of an economic slowdown later this year. The culprit, economists say, is Washington’s deficit-cutting efforts that have resulted in government spending cuts and higher taxes in 2013.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.4% in the week ended April 25, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, out Thursday.

That’s down from 3.41% the prior week and headed toward the record low 3.31% of late November. The same week last year, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.88%.

Even better, for those who qualify, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hit a record low 2.61% this week, down from 2.64% in the prior week. Freddie Mac began keeping nationwide average records in 1971.

“The housing market is getting a boost with mortgage rates hovering at or near record lows,” said Frank Nothaft, a vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac.

Nothaft cited:

• Existing home sales averaged an annualized pace of 4.9 million the first three months of the year, the most since the fourth quarter of 2009.

• New home sales topped 424,000 during the first quarter, strongest showing since the third quarter of 2008.

• February marked the thirteenth consecutive month the Federal Housing Finance Agency has recorded a rise in its 12-month U.S. house price index, which rose 7.1% in the twelve months through February, the most since May 2006.

However, despite the gains, Nothaft said, FIFA’s home price index is still 13.6% below its peak in April 2007.

In its weekly survey of mortgage lenders nationwide, Freddie Mac said a key adjustable rate mortgage also hit a record low. The average rate on 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages fell to an all-time low of 2.58% from 2.6% a week earlier. That type of mortgage has been available nationwide since 2005.

And the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM ticked down to 2.62% in the latest week from 2.63% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 16,000 to 339,000 the week ended April 20, the Labor Department said Thursday.

It’s the second-lowest level in five years.

And the four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly fluctuations, fell 4,500 to 357,500 last week.

The latest number is well below economists’ consensus estimates of a seasonally adjusted 350,000, and suggest hiring may be improving from March’s sluggish pace.

Last month, employers added just 88,000 nonfarm jobs to payrolls. That was a sharp drop from the previous four months, when an average 220,000 jobs a month were created.

When weekly claims for unemployment benefits stay below 350,000 for weeks in a row, economists agree that workers are more likely to be able to find a job rather than continue receiving unemployment benefits.

In this week’s report, claims for jobless benefits the week ended April 13 were revised up to 355,000 from 352,000.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Investors remained cautious at the start of a big week for company earnings on Wall Street.

In negative territory until midday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.66 points, or 0.14%, to 14,567.17. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 7.25 points, or 0.47%, to 1.562.50. The Nasdaq composite index gained 27.49 points, or 0.86%, to 3,233.55.

About a third of the companies in the S&P 500, including Exxon Mobil and Apple, report earnings this week. Analysts currently expect earnings to rise by 2% in the first quarter, down from the 7.7% increase in the fourth quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ.

Investors have mixed views about a slew of tech earnings due out this week will beat estimates and counter the disappointing earnings report out last week from tech giant IBM.

While the majority of companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten investors’ expectations, concerns remain about the outlook for revenues for the rest of the year. Caterpillar added to those worries Monday when it lowered its forecasts for full-year sales and profits because its mining business is slowing.

“Most of the companies seem to be coming in ahead of earnings expectations, but the thing that’s still problematic is the revenue line,” said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management. “To me it’s just symptomatic of the global economy continuing to sputter along.”

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was at 1.7% Monday as many investors sold stocks and bought lower-risk government bonds. In bond trading, the price rises when demand is strong, pushing the yield lower.

In currency trading, the dollar was strengthening after the Group of 20 industrialized nations accepted Japan’s unprecedented efforts to stimulate its economy. It was 0.3% higher against the yen at 99.21 and the euro was slightly lower against the dollar at 1.3060.

On Friday, the Dow finished 0.1% higher at 14,547.51; the S&P 500 stock index added 0.9% at 1,555.25, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 1.3% to 3,206.06.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 lost 2.1%.

Traders appear more likely to punish companies that miss expectations, rather than reward companies that beat them, Goldman Sachs said. According to the investment bank’s research, while 63% of stocks that beat analysts’ forecasts last week performed better than the overall market the next day, 73% of those that missed targets performed worse.

“If you look at this earnings season in general, it’s been disappointing,” said Ryan Detrick, a senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. “The outlook and the revenues are the big concern.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.9% to 13,568.37 on Monday, which is near a five-year high. Japanese officials said they were pleased with the support they had received at G20 meetings in Washington for aggressive efforts to lift the world’s third-largest economy out of a two-decade slump.

Markets in Europe ended mixed Monday. Britain’s FTSE 100 index finished down 0.1% to 6,280.62. Germany’s DAX 30 index closed up 0.2% to 7,478.11, and France’s CAC 40 index ended flat at 3,652.13.

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Benchmark oil for May delivery was about 80 cents higher to about $88.81 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In earlier trading, crude oil prices had risen above $89 a barrel. The contract rose 28 cents to close at $88.01 on the Nymex on Friday.

Gold futures for the June contract were trading 2% higher to $1,424 after a stunning 7% plunge last week. A nearly 3% gain in earlier trading evaporated within the first hour of stock trading.

Contributing: USA TODAY‘s Kim Hjelmgaard, The Associated Press

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