NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are little changed in early trading on Wall Street as more corporate earnings reports come in. UPS and Microsoft are among the early winners. Procter & Gamble also rose after saying it would make its Duracell battery business a stand-alone company. Amazon dropped 8 percent after reporting a steeper-than-expected loss late yesterday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The housing market is still struggling to make a full recovery from the recession. The Commerce Department says new-home sales were essentially flat in September, edging up two-tenths of a percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 467,000. The report also revised down the August sales rate to 466,000 from 504,000. The pace of sales for newly built homes has improved a mere 1.7 percent so far this year compared to 2013.
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford says its net income dropped 34 percent to $835 million in the third quarter, dragged down by the cost of launching its new F-150 pickup. The company closed its Dearborn truck plant for five weeks during the quarter and cut back on truck sales in order to preserve inventories while it readies the new aluminum-sided truck. That hurt pretax profits in North America, which fell 39 percent. Earnings per share and revenue fell less than analysts expected.
DETROIT (AP) — Evenflo is recalling more than 202,000 rear-facing infant seats because the buckles can become difficult to unlatch. The recall affects Embrace 35/9999 models with an AmSafe QT1 buckle. Documents posted by U.S. safety regulators say that if the buckles don’t release easily, it may be difficult to get a child out of the seat in an emergency. Not all Embrace 35 models are covered by the recall. For others, the company will provide replacement buckles if requested by customers.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Chiquita shareholders have rejected plans to merge with Irish fruit importer Fyffes, which would have created the world’s largest banana supplier. Chiquita Brands International says shareholders didn’t approve a revised transaction agreement between the two companies during a special shareholders meeting. Chiquita says it now expects to enter talks with two Brazilian companies, investment firm Safra Group and juice company Cutrale Group, on their competing offer of $14.50 per share.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
