HOME BUILDING: Shares of local homebuilders rose Thursday after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that building permits, an indicator of future construction, rose 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 812,000. That’s the most since August 2008, according to Bloomberg News. On the New York Stock Exchange, Ryland Group Inc. closed up 7 percent to $26.14 and KB Home gained 5.5 percent to $10.78.

STOCK OFFERING: PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust said late Thursday that it plans to offer 12 million common shares in a public offering. The Moorpark mortgage real estate investment trust intends to use net proceeds to help pay for a portfolio of residential whole mortgage loans and for general corporate purposes. Underwriters BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Credit Suisse Securities will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.8 million shares. The offering would have grossed more than $261 million at Thursday’s closing price of $21.80 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares fell more than 3 percent in after-hours trading.

STOCK BUY: Dole Food Co. Chairman David Murdock continues to accumulate shares in the Westlake Village producer and distributor of fruits and vegetables, saying in a regulatory filing that his trust bought 847,228 shares between Monday and Wednesday. That follows purchases totaling more than 1.9 million shares earlier in the month. Murdock controls more than 47 percent of shares in the company, which last month said it was considering a sale or spinoff of its packaged-foods unit. Shares closed up 3 percent to $12.78 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.