Business Highlights

The Associated Press

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Drought worsens in Plains, despite cooler temps

ST. LOUIS (AP) ⿿ While other corn growers already have cut down their drought-ravaged crops to feed to livestock, Nebraska farmer Doug Nelson still waits for his maize to mature, well aware it won't be a banner year.

On the day a new report suggested the nation's worst dry spell in at least a generation is deepening in America's breadbasket, Nelson said Thursday that he expects to harvest anywhere from nothing to 43 bushels per acre on his land, a far cry from the 120 to 140 bushels he'd typically get. On irrigated land in previous years, Nelson would see a minimum of 180 bushels.

The U.S. Drought Monitor's weekly map showed that, as of Tuesday, just over two-thirds of Iowa, the nation's biggest corn producer, was in extreme or exceptional drought ⿿ the worst two classifications. That's up more than 5 percentage points from the previous week.

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US new-home sales rise to match 2-year high

WASHINGTON (AP) ⿿ Sales of new homes in the U.S. rose 3.6 percent in July to match a two-year high reached in May, the latest sign of a steady recovery in the housing market.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that new-home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 372,000. That's the same as in May, which was the highest since April 2010.

In the past 12 months, sales have jumped 25 percent. Still, the increase is from a historically low level. New-home sales remain well below the annual pace of 700,000 that economists consider healthy.

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Applications for US unemployment aid up slightly

WASHINGTON (AP) ⿿ The number of people seeking first-time unemployment benefits rose by 4,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, evidence that the job market's recovery remains modest and uneven.

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