30YEAR RATE FOR MORTGAGE AT 4.85 PERCENT

Longterm U.S. mortgage rates dipped slightly this week, taking a pause after weeks of steady increases stoked by rising interest rates.

Home borrowing rates remain at their highest levels in more than seven years, with the key 30year rate approaching 5 percent. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on 30year, fixedrate mortgages declined to an average 4.85 percent this week from 4.90 percent last week.

Last week’s average was the highest level for the benchmark rate since spring 2011. A year ago, it stood at 3.88 percent.

The average rate on 15year, fixedrate loans eased to 4.26 percent this week.

MoviePass operations under investigation by New York attorney general.

N E W

YORK» The company that runs the beleaguered MoviePass discount service for movie tickets is being investigated by the New York attorney general on allegations that it misled investors.

Parent company Helios and Matheson of New York said in a prepared statement that it is aware of the investigation, but that it believes, “our public disclosures have been complete, timely and truthful, and we have not misled investors.”

The investigation was first reported by CNBC.

China’s yuan sinks further after U.S. currency report.

BEI J I N G

» China’s politically sensitive yuan sank to a 22month low against the dollar on Thursday after the U.S. Treasury declined to label Beijing a currency manipulator amid a mounting tariff battle.

The closely watched yuan fell to 6.9411 per dollar at midmorning, coming its closest to breaking the symbolically significant level of seven to the greenback since December 2016. It recovered slightly in the afternoon.

U.K.’s May to face fresh ire at home after being spared by EU.

B RUSS E

British Prime Minister Theresa May will head home from an inconclusive European Union summit on Brexit to a barrage of criticism that her 27 EU counterparts spared her during the twoday event that ended Thursday.

In Brussels, May said she would consider a longer transition period, one that could keep Britain aligned to EU rules and obligations for over two years after its March departure. ProBrexit politicians in the U.K. saw it as an attempt to bind the country to the bloc indefinitely.

— Denver Post wire services