In Maine, foreclosures give mixed message

Maine banking regulators are reporting a mixed pattern of residential mortgage foreclosures as the economy continues to struggle.

Bureau of Financial Institutions’ Superintendent Lloyd LaFountain III says a third quarter survey of mortgages held by Maine’s 32 state-chartered banks and credit unions continued to show mixed performance. So there’s no clear indication that the bottom has been reached.

On the plus side, there have been significant decreases in foreclosure starts, delinquencies of less than 90 days, and a slight increase in new mortgage loan starts. However, completed foreclosures and delinquencies of 90 days or more have increased. 

Aviation firm sues over exclusion from competition

Hawker Beechcraft Corp. is suing the U.S. government because it was excluded from competing for a light attack aircraft contract worth nearly $1 billion.

The Wichita Eagle reported the company filed the suit Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The suit seeks to prevent the government from awarding a contract until Beechcraft can make its case in court.

Wichita-based Hawker Beechcraft had hoped its AT-6 — an armed version of its T-6 trainer — would be considered in the competition for a light attack armed reconnaissance aircraft for the Afghanistan National Army Corps and the U.S. Air Force. 

Foreign tourists on pace to top 2008 spending record

International tourists continue to spend record amounts in the United States and are on pace to top the previous annual high mark in tourist expenditures set in 2008, according to new data from the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.

A monthly report by the federal agency, which is part of the Commerce Department, said international visitors spent $13.1 billion on travel to the U.S. and tourism-related activities while here in October, a 13 percent increase over the same month last year.

About $10 billion of that total came from spending on hotels, food, souvenirs and other expenses after visitors arrived in the United States.

Foreign visitors spent $127 billion in the United States in the first 10 months of 2011. Meanwhile, the total spent by Americans traveling abroad reached $91.9 billion in the first 10 months, an 8 percent increase over the same period in 2010, the agency reported. 

New York Times offers deal to millions by mistake

In today’s digital age, it’s easy to send out an email by mistake — even for a company that’s in the business of communication.

The New York Times thought it was sending an email to a few hundred people who had recently canceled subscriptions, offering them a 50 percent discount for 16 weeks to lure them back.

Instead, the offer went to 8.6 million email addresses of people who had given them to the Times.

That was the first mistake. The second came when the Times tweeted that it didn’t send the email. But the Times had.

Many people called in, and the newspaper initially honored the discount. The newspaper says it stopped giving out discounts to people who received the email in error by early afternoon. 

Citigroup selling Belgian consumer business

Citigroup Inc. is selling its Belgian consumer business to Credit Mutuel Nord Europe as the bank continues to sell off operations it deems are outside its core business.

The company didn’t disclose the deal’s terms.

Citigroup and other banks hurt by 2008’s financial meltdown and the economic downturn have been selling off “non-core” divisions. For example, Citigroup sold a $1.7 billion private equity portfolio to a French bank in June.

The New York company also is trimming its work force and recently announced it will cut 4,500 jobs — or about 1.5 percent of its global workforce of 267,000 — over the next few quarters.