Earnings & Sales Reports | featured news

Shares were down after a disappointing report on home prices. Traders also took in a mixed batch of earnings in the United States and Europe.

Ford Motor Co. is on a roll. Its popular new cars and trucks are grabbing a bigger share of the U.S. market. It's about to erase a big portion of its health care debts. And Ford is adding a significant number of jobs for the first time in years.

Best Buy's earnings jumped 61% as the retailer rebounded from a weakened year-earlier quarter on higher revenue and margins.

The online media company shows flat revenue and sees little growth ahead. Ouch. Yahoo! reported net income for the quarter ended June 30 of $213 million, or 15 cents per share, a 51% increase over the year ago quarter and beating Street’s consensus. Analysts’ consensus leading up to the quarterly earnings report had the online media company coming in at 14 cents per share on revenue of $1.6 billion. Though beating the predictions, Yahoo! failed to deliver impressive growth on revenue; posting the expected $1.6 billion this quarter, up 2% from the same period last year.

JPMorgan Chase reported a $3.3 billion profit for the first quarter Wednesday, even as its results were tempered by ongoing losses in consumer loan portfolios.

G.M. said Wednesday that it had positive cash flow of $1 billion in the six months after it emerged from bankruptcy protection last July, but that it lost $4.3 billion in that period, mostly because of the cost of settling with the United Auto Workers union over retiree health benefits, one of the burdens that helped bring the company to its knees.

The top warehouse-style retailer in the U.S. said net profit climbed in the fiscal second-quarter as it posted higher sales, driven by international operations.

Materials and energy stocks were among those pulling the U.S. stock market to a weak opening. Home Depot gained on Lowe's earnings report.

U.S. stock futures rose as better-than-expected earnings reports from Research In Motion and Oracle late Thursday reinforced confidence in the ability of companies to increase profits next year.

Campbell Soup's earnings rose 17% as margins improved and without expenses that weighed on year-earlier results. But soup revenue fell in the absence of product introductions that boosted last year's sales.