On Wednesday August 4, 2010, 5:42 pm EDT
Job market brightens a bit
as service sector grows
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The service
sector, which makes up 80 percent of the economy, grew for the seventh month in
a row, and state aid to preserve jobs for tens of thousands of teachers and
other public employees cleared a key hurdle in Congress on Wednesday.
Of course, the job market
still has a long way to go. A key employment report due out Friday is expected
to show the nation actually lost jobs in July, mostly because of temporary
census work that came to an end.
Stocks rise on jobs,
service sector growth
NEW YORK (AP) -- Reassuring
signs on employment and growth in the service industry got the stock market
back on an upward trajectory Wednesday.
Major indexes rose
moderately after reports showed private sector hiring and services activity
both grew more than expected in July. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44
points.
Investors were relieved
that the two reports provided no signs that the economy might be headed back
into recession, even though growth might be sluggish.
Toyota posts $2.2 bln
profit as car sales recover
TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota
reported a quarterly profit of $2.2 billion, reversing from red ink a year
earlier as the world's top automaker benefited from a global sales recovery
that offset lingering doubts about the safety of its cars.
The company, which makes
the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid, raised its full year earnings forecast
Wednesday, and said it now expects to sell 7.38 million vehicles worldwide for
the year through March 2011, up from 7.24 million the previous year. Previously
it forecast sales of 7.29 million vehicles.
AOL execs, some analysts
see changes taking hold
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- AOL
Inc. reported a $1 billion-plus second-quarter loss and tumbling revenue, yet
the dismal-sounding numbers appear to belie a more positive reality: The
troubled Internet company is actually chugging along on its long road to
recovery.
AOL is in the midst of a
turnaround effort under CEO Tim Armstrong, a former Google Inc. executive who
is trying to shift AOL from relying on a shrinking dial-up Internet business to
finding growth in online ad sales.
So far, this has not been
easy. Since splitting from Time Warner Inc. in December, the company has shown
few obvious signs of progress, and on the surface the second quarter may sound
like more bad news.
Time Warner posts rise in
2Q earnings, boosts view
NEW YORK (AP) -- A rebound
in advertising markets and strong box office results helped lift Time Warner
Inc.'s second-quarter profit 7 percent, the media conglomerate said Wednesday.
The results topped Wall
Street expectations, and Time Warner signaled growing confidence by boosting
its full-year profit forecast.
Time Warner's results
offered more evidence that businesses have started spending again to reach
customers after cutting back during the recession. At the company's cable
channels, which include CNN, TBS, the Cartoon Network and others, ad revenue
was up by $126 million, or 14 percent, over the same quarter a year ago.
Gov't OKs $600M in housing
aid for 5 states
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Obama administration plans to send $600 million to help unemployed homeowners
avoid foreclosure in five states.
The Treasury Department
said Wednesday that mortgage-assistance proposals submitted by North Carolina,
Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina received approval. The states
estimate their efforts could help up to 50,000 homeowners.
The administration is
directing $2.1 billion from its existing $75 billion mortgage assistance
program to a total of 10 states. Each state designed its own plan. Treasury
approved money in June for Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.
Homebuilder PulteGroup
returns to profit in 2Q
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
PulteGroup Inc., the nation's largest homebuilder, said Wednesday it returned
to a quarterly profit for the first time in more than three years, as revenue
surged amid a rush by Americans to complete their home purchase in time to
qualify for federal tax credits.
The builder's acquisition
of rival Centex Corp. last year was key, bolstering its inventory of homes
geared for first-time buyers, many of which seized on the government incentives
to become homeowners.
CEO Richard J. Dugas Jr.,
said buyer demand fell after the tax credit expired in April. It has since been
stable, but well below normal levels.
Gasoline prices rise after
recent rally in oil
The recent rise in oil
prices is translating into higher prices at the pump.
The national average for a
gallon of regular unleaded rose 2.1 cents to $2.747 a gallon, according to AAA,
Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Oil has traded above $82 for
two straight days. It was around $77 a week ago.
Motorists are paying about
3 cents more than they were two weeks ago and 18.6 cents more than a year ago.
Oil prices were slightly
lower Thursday. After dropping during European trading, they rallied on reports
that contained good news on the U.S. jobs front before leveling off.
Allstate's net income drops
in second quarter
NEW YORK (AP) -- Property
and casualty insurer Allstate Corp. says its net income fell sharply in the
second quarter as a result of investment losses.
The Northbrook, Ill.,
company says it earned $145 million, or 27 cents per share, in the three months
ended June 30. That compares with a profit of $389 million, or 72 cents per
share, in the year-ago period. Not including one-time items, the company said
it earned 81 cents per share.
By that measure, analysts
surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected Allstate to post a net income of 69 cents
per share on revenue of $6.61 billion.
FTC says computer buyers
benefit from Intel deal
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The
Federal Trade Commission is trumpeting its settlement with Intel Corp. as a
victory for consumers who have overpaid for computer chips for a decade, though
computer buyers shouldn't expect a sudden drop in prices.
The deal announced
Wednesday represents the end to the harshest antitrust lawsuit Intel has faced
yet from government regulators, and it imposes the strictest set of changes
onto the way Intel does business.
But any changes as a result
of the FTC's actions would likely be gradual, and possibly imperceptible, to
most people.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 44.05, or 0.4 percent, to 10,680.43.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index rose 6.78, or 0.6 percent, to 1,127.24, while the Nasdaq composite
index rose 20.05, or 0.9 percent, to 2,303.57.
Benchmark crude for
September delivery fell 8 cents to $82.47 a barrel in early trading on the New
York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading in
September contracts, heating oil rose 0.22 cent to $2.2022 a gallon, gasoline
lost 1.85 cents to $2.1750 a gallon and natural gas added 9.8 cents to $4.737
per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude fell
48 cents to $82.68 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.