Earnings & Sales Reports | featured news

Mall-based chains continue to be hit hardest as consumers focus on necessities, but the warehouse club operator Costco’s results also missed analyst estimates.

The post office says it lost $2.4 billion from April through June. That brings the year's losses so far to $4.7 billion. And the Postal Service expects to be $7 billion in the red when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Barclays said first-half net profit rose 9.9% as investment-banking fees and trading gains offset weaker performance in its retail arm, and said it expects the rest of the year to be challenging.

Ford Motor Co. saw an increase in domestic sales this July over last, a Ford official told CNN Radio on Sunday. It was the first monthly sales gain claimed by a major automaker since the financial crisis began last year.

Stocks rallied Thursday to their highest levels in at least 8 months, as investors eyed the latest batch of better-than-expected profit reports or forecasts and a report that suggested the labor market is starting to stabilize.

Major stock gauges declined as weak earnings and worries about commodity demand weighed on raw-materials companies.

One-time restructuring gains gave Ford a quarterly profit of $2.3 billion, despite a loss at its automotive operations.

Hyundai Motors outshined its global rivals by reporting a record quarterly profit, as a weak won helped overseas sales and government incentives boosted domestic demand.

AP - Morgan Stanley said Wednesday it lost more than $1.2 billion in the second quarter as it took charges to cover continuing losses in its real estate investments and its repayment of government bailout money.

Several major U.S. banks, led by Wells Fargo & Co, said the troubled economy drove credit losses higher, reducing profitability in the second quarter.