Business highlights

LOS ANGELES — The owner of Magic Mountain said Thursday it would continue operating the roller coaster theme park and its adjacent Hurricane Harbor water park in Valencia, excluding the properties from a $312 million theme park sell-off.

The move by New York-based Six Flags Inc., ends months of speculation on the fate of Magic Mountain, which last year appeared like it might be among a several theme parks destined for the auction block.

Six Flags announced Thursday it would sell seven of its 30 North American parks in a bid to improve its debt-laden balance sheet.

Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor will remain open for business this year and beyond, the company said.

Last year, real estate developers offered to buy Magic Mountain in hopes of razing it, but Six Flags ruled out any buyers who did not plan to keep the park open.

Attendance at Magic Mountain fell 12 percent during the key June through December period last year compared to the same period in 2005.

The company has blamed that attendance drop in large part to uncertainty about the park’s future.

Six Flags, the nation’s second-largest theme park operator in terms of attendance behind The Walt Disney Co., has spent tens of millions of dollars in recent years to pack Magic Mountain with gut-wrenching roller coasters with names such as Scream, Psyclone and Viper.

Jobless claims fall to lowest level in nearly six months

WASHINGTON — The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to the lowest level in nearly six months.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims dropped by 26,000 to 299,000 last week on a seasonally adjusted basis. It marked the first time jobless claims have fallen below 300,000 since the week of July 22.

The improvement was much better than the decline of 9,000 that analysts had been expecting and provided further evidence that the slowing U.S. economy has not begun to seriously affect the labor market outside of specific industries such as housing and auto manufacturing.

But analysts cautioned against reading too much in the latest decline, saying that jobless claims are notoriously difficult to read during holiday periods.

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, in Valhalla, N.Y., predicted a big increase in claims in coming weeks as retail stores lay off temporary workers hired for the holiday shopping season.

On Wall Street, investors took encouragement from the dip in jobless claims, believing it showed that the economy is not slowing too quickly. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 72.82 points to finish the day with another record close at 12,514.98.

The four-week moving average for claims, which helps to smooth out week-to-week volatility, edged down to 314,750, the lowest level since early November.

30-year mortgages hit highest level since mid-November

Rates on 30-year mortgages rose this week to the highest level since mid-November after a better-than-expected employment report renewed inflation worries in financial markets.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.21 percent this week, up from 6.18 percent last week. It was the highest level since 30-year mortgages stood at 6.24 percent the week of Nov. 16.