Earnings | featured news

The government-backed mortgage financier said it made a profit in the first quarter and that it does not need additional bailout money — a first since the federal government took it over in 2008.

Toyota Motor Co. wrapped up one of the worst fiscal year’s in the company’s history with an unexpectedly strong final quarter in which it saw earnings more than quadruple.

Jeff Bezos’ net worth jumped $2.7 billion to $21.5 billion on Friday, the first trading day after Amazon surprised investors with stronger than expected earnings on Thursday after the market closed. Net income for the quarter was 28 cents a share, quadruple the Street consensus at 7 cents, as reported by my colleague Eric Savitz. Net sales increased 34% to $13.18 billion in the first quarter. The stock jumped $30.9, or 15.8%, in one day.

MetLife said it swung to a loss on increased derivative losses, releasing the preliminary results nearly two weeks ahead of schedule after inadvertently posting some quarterly data on its website late Wednesday.

Stocks soared Tuesday, as investors welcomed a slew of solid earnings and after a German investor confidence survey surprised on the upside and Spanish benchmark yields eased.

Target Corp. is reporting a 5.2 percent drop in earnings for the fourth quarter, as the retailer pushed big discounts to get tight-fisted shoppers to buy during the holiday season.

Bank earnings rose over the summer to their highest level in more than four years, while the number of troubled banks fell for the second straight quarter, federal regulators reported Tuesday.

Yahoo Inc has managed to meet low third quarter earnings targets, a rare feat for a company that has continually disappointed investors.

Bank of America reported a $6.2 billion profit for the third quarter as gains from assets sales and positive accounting changes outweighed weaker results in its trading business and continued losses in its huge mortgage portfolio.

Economic growth in China during the third quarter of the year is expected to have slowed as a result of government measures to curb inflation.