Among the business news stories for Tuesday from the Associated Press:
TOP STORIES
DEBT SHOWDOWN
WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to send President Barack Obama a historic measure to avert a potentially disastrous government default and make a down payment toward taming out-of-control budget deficits. The emergency legislation easily passed the House and is virtually assured to clear the Senate by a bipartisan tally. By Andrew Taylor.
With:
— DEBT SHOWDOWN-TREASURY — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he doesn’t know if the bruising debt-limit battle will harm America’s Triple-A credit rating, but says he fears “world confidence was damaged by this spectacle.”
DEUTSCHE BOERSE-NYSE-TAKEOVER
BRUSSELS — In the U.S., the planned takeover of NYSE Euronext by Germany’s Deutsche Boerse made waves because it means ceding the storied trading floor on 11 Wall Street to foreign control. But in Europe, tradition has almost no role to play in reviews of the deal. Regulators are focused on how to handle a new company that would be the world’s largest exchange and control vast but obscure parts of the financial system. By Gabriele Steinhauser.
Also:
— EARNS-NYSE EURONEXT — NYSE Euronext reported a 16 percent drop in net profit in the second quarter, citing in part costs linked to its planned merger with Germany’s Deutsche Boerse.
MARKETS & ECONOMY
CONSUMER SPENDING
WASHINGTON — Americans cut back on their spending in June for the first time in nearly two years and their incomes grew by the smallest amount in nine months, a troubling sign for an economy that is barely growing. By Martin Crutsinger.
WALL STREET
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell ahead of a vote in the Senate to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. Signs that U.S. consumers are pulling on spending back added to concerns about the U.S. economy.
— OIL PRICES — Oil rose above $95 a barrel even with new evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing.
EARNINGS
EARNS-PFIZER
UNDATED — Pfizer’s second-quarter profit rose 5 percent, as lower taxes and reduced restructuring charges from its 2009 purchase of Wyeth offset generic competition cutting into sales. By Linda Johnson.
EARNS-ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND
NEW YORK — Agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland says its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 15 percent as a higher tax rate offset surging revenue. By Samantha Bomkamp.
EARNS-DUKE ENERGY
NEW YORK — Duke Energy earned $441 million in the second quarter, reversing a loss from a year earlier. But the utility operator said the sputtering economy continues to keep demand for electricity low. By Jon Fahey.
EARNS-MOLSON COORS
DENVER — Molson Coors’ profit fell 6 percent in the second quarter, as increased prices and cost cuts were more than offset by lower sales volumes and higher commodity costs. By Sarah Skidmore.
EARNS-COACH
NEW YORK — Coach said fourth-quarter net income rose 4 percent as the demand for luxury bags in North America continues to improve. By Mae Anderson.
AUTOS
AUTOS SALES
DETROIT — New car sales stayed in a funk last month, as Americans worried about the weak economy and a lack of deals. July extends a disappointing stretch for automakers following a strong start this year. Sales slowed in May and June after an earthquake in Japan cut into supplies of small cars that were in demand because of high gas prices. Those shortages — and higher car prices — turned off many buyers. By Dee-Ann Durbin.
JAPAN-EARNS-TOYOTA
TOKYO — Toyota eked out a $14 million quarterly profit and raised its annual earnings forecast as it mounts a comeback from the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. By Yuri Kageyama.
— GERMANY-EARNS-BMW — German automaker BMW AG says booming sales of its luxury cars and SUVs in China helped its profits more than double to $2.5 billion in the second quarter.
TECHNOLOGY & MEDIA
EARNS-CBS
CBS Corp. reports quarterly financial results after the market close. By Ryan Nakashima.
— BRITAIN-LULZSEC — A British newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch is warning some readers that their personal details may have been stolen during a cyberattack. Hacking group Lulz Security claimed it carried out the attack, which redirected readers to a fake story about Murdoch. The group also has claimed attacks on Sony Corp. and the CIA.
INTERNATIONAL
EUROPE-FINANCIAL CRISIS
MADRID — Investors dealt Italy and Spain a battering as the yields on their bonds struck euro-era highs amid mounting fears that an economic slowdown will hurt their chances of dodging Europe’s spreading debt crisis.
Also:
— EUROPE-INTEREST RATES — Worries about Europe’s economy and a possible worsening of the debt crisis could force the European Central Bank to abandon a third interest rate increase that had been widely predicted for later this year. By Business Writer David McHugh.
JAPAN-STRONG YEN
TOKYO — Expectations Japan will intervene in currency markets grew as the yen’s rise to a near record high threatened to stall economic recovery in the aftermath of the March earthquake. By Tomoko A. Hosaka.
CHINA-BULLET TRAIN ANGER
BEIJING — China’s bullet train was supposed to signal its arrival as a high-tech leader. Instead, a crash that killed at least 40 people has made it a lightning rod for anger at the human cost of recklessly fast development. On the Internet and in normally docile state media, the July 23 disaster triggered outrage about China’s drumbeat of deaths from bridge and schoolhouse collapses, coal mine explosions, tainted milk and other disasters. By Joe McDonald.
— BRITAIN-BARCLAYS — Britain’s Barclays PLC’s profits fell by a third in the first half of the year as the bank’s earnings were hit by a charge related to the mis-selling of products to customers.
— EARNS-DEUTSCHE POST — Mail and freight company Deutsche Post AG says net profits more than tripled in the second quarter as its German package deliveries rose and Asian sales boosted its DHL express delivery business.
— SAUDI-TALLEST TOWER — Saudi Arabia took a key step in its plan to build the world’s tallest tower and outdo its Gulf neighbor Dubai, awarding a more than $1 billion contract for the construction of the roughly two-third mile high Kingdom Tower.