MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Daimler AG said Thursday that June U.S. sales rose 20.3% to 19,574 vehicles from 16,271 in the year-ago period. Sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and light truck vehicles increased by 20.5% to 18,269 units; Smart car sales dropped 48.3% to 577 vehicles; and the newly released Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner Sprinter Vans [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that total U.S. sales in June rose 13.3% to 175,895 vehicles from 155,195 in the year-ago period. Sales of the Ford brand rose 16.2% to 155,332 vehicles; Lincoln sales fell 11.5% to 6,318 units, Mercury sales rose 26.2% to 9,250 units; and Volvo sales dropped 29.1% [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Morgan Stanley said Thursday that Francis Barron, is its new chief legal officer. Barron is a partner at law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, and will succeed Gary Lynch, who will remain a vice chairman for Morgan Stanley based in London. The bank also said that Eric Grossman, general counsel [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Motorola Inc. said Thursday that it has filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its planned separation into two publicly traded companies in the first quarter of 2011. In a statement, the company said its mobile device and home businesses will operate under the name Motorola Mobility, while its [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Standard & Poor’s said Thursday it cut the ratings of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. to BB from BB+ because the firm’s is issuing debt to buy back stock. The outlook is stable. “The downgrade follows FIS’s decision to pursue a leveraged recapitalization, issuing $2.6 billion of incremental debt to repurchase [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday as the latest spate of economic data did little to calm worries about the recovery. “The market is pricing in an economic future that is more dismal than reality,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds. “The ghost that is haunting us is [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Questar Corp. shares jumped 5% in early Thursday trading after the natural-gas company announced that it has completed the spin-off of QEP Resources Inc. as an exploration and production company. One common share of QEP was distributed for each Questar common stock to shareholders on record as of June 18. QEP [...]

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.58% from 4.69% a week ago and 5.32% a year ago, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey released Thursday. The average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also declined to 4.04% from 4.13% last week and 4.77% a year earlier. Adjustable mortgage rates were mixed, with the [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) –Treasury prices erased losses and the dollar extended its decline against the euro on Thursday after the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index fell to 56.2 in June from 59.7 in May, more than many analysts anticipated. A separate report showed pending home sales fell 30% in May. Yields on 10-year notes [...]

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The expansion in the U.S. manufacturing sector moderated in June after three months of very rapid growth, according to a survey of purchasing managers at companies across the nation released Thursday. The Institute for Supply Management index fell from 59.7% in May to 56.2% in June. It’s the lowest since December. Economists [...]