Investing: Goldberg seeks to toughen proxy-voting guidelines

Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg on Thursday proposed a series of activist proxy-voting guidelines at a state pension fund committee meeting, pressing for greater diversity on corporate boards, higher environmental standards, and other issues. The pension board’s Administration and Audit Committee approved the measure and voted to present the proposal to the full board next month. Goldberg, who took office in January, chairs the $61 billion state pension fund. Her proposal included a number of measures to pressure companies in which the state invests — to hire more diverse boards, adopt stronger environmental policies, and raise standards for human rights. In one example, she proposed that the fund vote against all of a company’s board nominees if less than 25 percent of the board is made up of women and people of color. The full board next meets on April 7. — Beth Healy

Arts and entertainment: HBO will feature daily newscast

NEW YORK — HBO and Vice Media announced an expansion of their partnership on Thursday, including the launch of a daily Vice newscast on the pay cable outlet. Vice already airs a weekly news show on HBO, a more personal-style look at the world’s hot spots than traditional news outlets. That Friday night program, which currently is shown 14 times a year, will expand to 35 episodes a year over the course of the new four-year agreement. HBO and Vice offered few details about the daily newscast, other than to say that it will draw on 30 global bureaus and ‘‘feature the original on-the-ground reporting viewers expect from Vice.’’ It will begin sometime this fall and be shown on the main HBO network. A time slot had not been set yet. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Retail: With ad pitch, New Balance declares its place on the soccer pitch

New Balance has taken its shots at soccer powerhouses Nike and Adidas with a new ad for its NB Football line. The Boston-based shoe company launched its line of footware and apparel in February. Its first ad features several players from some of Europe’s top soccer clubs, including rising stars such as Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal Football Club, training under an energetic lighting display. The shoes aren’t the focus of the ad and appear only in quick cuts. The company’s players — including Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini, and Manchester City’s Samir Nasri, Fernando Reges, Vincent Kompany, and Jesus Navas — dominate the minute-long spot. The ad features an LED board beaming intense messages, with the tagline: “Every minute. Every second. Every challenge. Every victory. We are New Balance Football.” A spokeswoman for the company said it wouldn’t run the advertisement on television in the United States and would just promote it by social media using the hashtag #nbfootball. Fans can view it on YouTube. — Jack Newsham

Insurance: Healey objects to auto fee increase

Attorney General Maura Healey is opposing a plan by the state’s high-risk insurance pool to increase fees for the first time since it was created. In a letter to the state’s Division of Insurance this week, Healey’s office requested the state reject a proposal by Commonwealth Auto Reinsurers, a group of insurance companies, to increase fees paid by users of the state’s car insurance system of last resort, the Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Plan. Glenn Kaplan, the chief of the attorney general’s insurance and financial services division, said a third of the policyholders who would be affected have perfect or nearly-perfect driving records and a disproportionately high number were poor or minorities. He also asked the state’s top insurance regulator to require car insurance companies let high-risk policyholders pay online, which could reduce their fees. For a policyholder who makes nine payments per year, the proposed fee increases would amount to $18 annually, according to a spokesperson for the attorney general. The bounced-check fee would increase from $25 to $29. — Jack Newsham

Personal finance: US rules proposed to regulate ‘payday’ loans

WASHINGTON — Each month, more than 200,000 needy US households take out what’s advertised as a brief loan. Many have run out of money between paychecks. So they obtain a ‘‘payday’’ loan to tide them over. Problem is, such loans can often bury them in fees and debts. Their bank accounts can be closed, their cars repossessed. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rules Thursday to protect Americans from stumbling into what it calls a ‘‘debt trap.’’ At the heart of the plan is a requirement that payday lenders verify borrowers’ incomes before approving a loan. The government is seeking to set standards for a multibillion-dollar industry that has historically been regulated only at the state level. The payday industry warns that if the rules are enacted, many impoverished Americans would lose access to any credit. — Associated Press

Personal finance: Average 30-year mortgage falls to 3.69 percent

Mortgage rates

A look at 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages on a weekly basis since July 2012.

DATA: Freddie MacGLOBE STAFFWASHINGTON — Average long-term US mortgage rates fell this week for a second straight week, edging closer to historically low levels at the start of the spring season. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the national average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.69 percent from 3.78 percent last week. The average rate for a 15-year mortgage, popular with homeowners who refinance, eased to 2.97 percent from 3.06 percent last week. A year ago, the average 30-year mortgage stood at 4.40 percent and the 15-year mortgage at 3.42 percent. Mortgage rates have remained low even though the Federal Reserve in October ended its monthly bond purchases, designed to hold down long-term rates. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Technology

New Samsung, HTC phones due April 10

NEW YORK — New phones from Samsung and HTC will be available in US stores starting April 10. Advance orders for the new HTC One (left) begin Friday, and those customers might receive their phones before April 10. Orders for Samsung’s Galaxy S6 phones (right) start Friday as well, with delivery expected around April 10. Phone sizes won’t change. HTC said it is improving the camera on the new phone and personalizing the home screen based on your location. It also promises to replace the phone once if you smash or crack it. Samsung is swapping its plastic back cover for more stylish metal and glass to better compete with the iPhone. It also said it improved the camera and software interface. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Retail: Bankruptcy judge asked to reopen RadioShack bidding

WILMINGTON, Del. — An attorney for a lender that lost a bankruptcy auction for electronics retailer RadioShack has asked a judge to reopen the bidding. RadioShack says an offer of about $160 million from hedge fund Standard General LP was the best bid submitted this week. Standard General’s bid, which would keep 1,743 stores open and preserve about 7,500 jobs, consists mostly of credit on debt it is owed. Salus Capital Partners, which is owed about $150 million, says that it is willing to pay about $271 million for RadioShack’s assets and that the auction was a charade in which Standard General cut a deal. — Associated Press

Energy: municipal utilities charge less for power, study says

Massachusetts’s municipal electric companies have charged far less than private companies such as National Grid and Eversource so far this year, according to data from a nonprofit that tracks rates. The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., a quasi-public company that serves the state’s more than 40 locally-controlled electric companies, said the state’s “munis” charged a typical household that uses 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity $73 to $74 over the first three months of 2015. The state’s investor-owned utilities — Eversource, Unitil, and National Grid — charged $121 to $135 for the same amount of electricity, 64 to 83 percent more. The price gap was less pronounced in other periods. Investor-owned utilities said the data provided an incomplete picture. — Jack Newsham

From: bostonglobe.com