Business Briefs

Dallas Fed: Mexican nationals major part of border retail trade

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas released a report this week which documents the importance of Mexican citizens on Texas’ border economy, according to two economists.

On average, between 1978 and 2001, 25 percent of retail goods sold in Brownsville were exported to Mexico each year, the economists found.

“(The authors) show that unexpected changes in the peso’s real value affected these border metros because retail sales strength varied closely with the peso’s strength,” Mine Yucel, a senior economist and vice president at the Fed, wrote in the introduction.

The report is available online at dallasfed.org.

IBC forms alliance with Humana

IBC Insurance Agency, Ltd. announced this week that it formed an alliance with health insurance giant Humana to educate seniors about the new Medicare prescription plans.

The program will “help Medicare recipients gain access to the new prescription drug plan and the benefits it can offer,” said IBC Insurance’s Chief Operating Officer Dale Randol.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.