The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate ticked up again this week, remaining at its highest level since July.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate loan rate rose to 6.93% from 6.91% last week, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. It was at 6.66% a year ago. It has risen for four straight weeks.

The uptick in the cost of home loans reflects a rise in the bond yields that lenders use as a guide to price mortgages, specifically the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury. The yield on the 10-year Treasury has climbed from 3.62% in mid-September to 4.66% this week.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance, ticked up to 6.14%, up from 6.13% and also the highest since July. It was at 5.87% a year ago, Freddie Mac said.

Lucky, Forever 21 merge with JCPenney

Sparc Group, the operator of fashion brands including Lucky, Eddie Bauer, Aeropostale, Forever 21 and Brooks Brothers, has merged with JCPenney to form a new company called Catalyst Brands.

The joint venture was formed in an all-equity transaction between JCPenney and Sparc Group and its shareholders Simon Property Group, Brookfield Corp., Authentic Brands Group and SheIn Group Ltd., according to a company press release.

Catalyst will be headed by former JCPenney CEO Marc Rosen.

Combined, Catalyst has about $9 billion of revenue, 1,800 store locations, 60,000 employees and $1 billion of liquidity, according to the statement. Catalyst in its release said has sold its U.S. operations of Reebok and is exploring strategic options for the operations of Forever 21.

Authentic Brands bought the Forever 21 brand name out of bankruptcy in February 2020 and licensed it to Sparc to operate through a fleet of about 500 stores, some of which were leased by Simon Property. The move served to benefit both, keeping mall occupancy up while giving Authentic — the owner of dozens of lifestyle and retail brands — another stream of income. JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 and was acquired by Simon Property and Brookfield Asset Management Inc., another mall owner, for $800 million.

DirecTV says Venu still anti-competitive

Pay-TV provider DirecTV wrote in a letter to a federal judge Thursday that a recent settlement between Walt Disney Co. and FuboTV Inc. doesn’t resolve antitrust issues around Venu, a planned sports streaming service.

DirecTV said Venu, a joint venture between Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery, would offer content that DirecTV and other distributors aren’t allowed to, and that the company is concerned about the impact Venu would have on competition for sports programming. Satellite TV provider EchoStar Corp. wrote a similar letter on Tuesday.

Fubo said Jan. 6 that it had agreed to end its antitrust lawsuit against the three companies behind Venu and that Disney would merge its Hulu + Live TV streaming service with Fubo, creating the second-biggest digital pay-TV provider.

Fubo sued the three companies behind Venu in February, claiming it would reduce competition and increase prices for consumers. U.S. Judge Margaret Garnett ruled in August that the suit was likely to be upheld and issued an injunction temporarily barring the launch of Venu.

But on Jan. 6, Fubo said it was voluntarily dismissing its lawsuit in federal court, while Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. withdrew their appeal of the injunction. Venu is now expected to move forward.

Compiled from Associated Press and Bloomberg reports.