Markets

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — About 10% more Americans plan to travel by car during the Labor Day weekend, according to the American Automobile Association. Some 31.4 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles from home, up from 28.5 million a year ago, the AAA said. “While job growth has been disappointing, gross domestic product, [...]

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. house prices rose in the second quarter of 2010 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s seasonally adjusted purchase-only house price index, the first rise since the second quarter of 2007. The HPI, calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages, was 0.9% higher on a [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Northrop Grumman Corp. said Wednesday it would reduce its work staff by 642 at its shipbuilding operations in Pascagoula, Miss. The Los Angeles-based company blamed the layoffs on the “cyclical nature of shipbuilding.” The facility is currently building two LPD-17 amphibious-transport ships, which are expected to be completed in 2013. Last [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Copper on Wednesday added to losses immediately after a report showed new-home sales falling to a record low pace in July, but has since returned to previous levels. Oil and gold held steady after the data. Copper for September delivery retreated 5 cents, or 1.4%, to $3.20 a pound. Gold for [...]

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, said Wednesday its second-quarter net profit soared to 20.7 billion rubles ($672 million) from 5.4 billion rubles in the same period a year ago. Still, profit was well below the 43.5 billion rubles Sberbank earned in the first quarter. Net interest income dropped to 114.8 billion rubles from [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Somaxon Pharmaceuticals Inc. [S: somx] shares jumped $1.13, or 34%, in pre-market trades on Wednesday after the San Diego company said it inked a pact with Procter & Gamble to market its insomnia drug, Silenor (doxepin). As part of the deal, Somaxon granted Procter & Gamble a right of first negotiation [...]

LONDON (MarketWatch) — The U.K. Financial Services Authority said Wednesday that it has fined French bank Societe Generale around 1.6 million pounds ($2.5 million) for failing to provide accurate transaction reports to the regulator. The FSA said that, over a period of two years, the bank failed to provide accurate information on around 80% of [...]

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Thailand’s central bank lifted its base lending rate by a quarter-point to 1.75% on Wednesday, noting that the domestic economy continues to power ahead and that core inflation will rise throughout 2011 and may even breach the upper level of its target band. “The Thai economy expanded faster than expected in [...]

LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stock markets edged lower in early trading Wednesday following another downbeat session on Wall Street and as investors eyed a mixed-bag of corporate earnings. Among stocks on the move, shares in Tullow Oil dropped 3% in early action, while Ageas , the former insurance arm of Fortis, jumped 5.3% after strong [...]

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Aggreko , a supplier of temporary power and temperature control equipment, said Wednesday that its first-half net profit rose 22% to 87.4 million pounds ($134.9 million) as revenue grew 17% to 583.6 million pounds. The group said its performance was underpinned by major contracts for the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the FIFA [...]