Business News - AFP

CHICAGO (AFP) - Boeing reported Wednesday a 19 percent drop in quarterly profit to 852 million dollars, coming up short of Wall Street estimates but maintaining its outlook through 2009.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Pfizer, the US pharmaceuticals giant, said Wednesday its second-quarter net profit more than doubled due to surging international sales and reaffirmed its 2008 outlook.

DETROIT, United States (AFP) - General Motors on Wednesday posted a five percent drop in global sales in the second quarter as a sharp drop in its home market offset strong gains overseas.

LONDON (AFP) - British mobile phone giant Vodafone said on Wednesday it planned to repurchase 1.0 billion pounds' (1.3 billion euros', 2.0 billion dollars') worth of its shares, saying the company was "significantly" undervalued.

FRANKFURT (AFP) - Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, reported on Wednesday a surprise jump in profits, alongside Peugeot Citroen PSA in France and Italy's Fiat as all three benefited from strong overseas sales.

LONDON (AFP) - British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said on Wednesday that net profits slipped during the second quarter owing to competition from generic drugmakers and poor sales of diabetes drug Avandia.

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices fell further on Wednesday as Hurricane Dolly looked set to miss US energy installations in the Gulf of Mexico, analysts said.

LONDON (AFP) - The dollar rose against the euro and the yen on Wednesday, propped up by lower oil prices and renewed speculation about possible US interest rate hikes, dealers said.

LONDON (AFP) - Europe's main stock markets rallied on Wednesday, led by the banking and auto sectors, after an overnight rally on Wall Street helped by falling oil prices that also lifted Asian share prices.

GENEVA (AFP) - Developing countries on Tuesday shot down an offer by the United States to cut its farm subsidies as negotiators urged a quickening of pace after the first two days of crucial WTO talks here.

LONDON (AFP) - British mobile phone giant Vodafone warned on Tuesday that full-year sales would disappoint the market, sending its share price tumbling one week before the exit of chief executive Arun Sarin.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Banking giant Wachovia took a hit from the US housing slump with a quarterly loss announced Tuesday of 8.662 billion dollars but its shares surged as it unveiled job cut and other steps to shore up its finances.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Ericsson, the world leader in mobile phone network equipment, reported a 70 percent collapse in net profit for the second quarter on Tuesday and a two-thirds fall in operating margins.

BERLIN (AFP) - German flag carrier Lufthansa was forced Tuesday to cancel nearly 1,000 flights due to warning strikes by pilots working for two of its units, an airline spokeswoman said.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AFP) - The global auto industry is heading down an unsustainable path and needs new technology to cope with record fuel costs, Nissan-Renault chairman Carlos Ghosn said Tuesday.

LONDON (AFP) - British energy giant BP said Tuesday it had recalled all 148 staff sent to Russia to work for its TNK-BP venture amid ongoing Russian attempts to end foreign control of major energy assets.

HANNOVER, Germany (AFP) - The works committee at German auto parts group Continental told the Schaeffler Group Tuesday that staff did not like the methods used by Schaeffler to gain a strategic stake in their company.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices tumbled to six-week lows Tuesday on demand concerns amid an economic slowdown, while the threat of Tropical Storm Dolly in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to fade.

NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar strengthened Tuesday on comments from a Federal Reserve official indicating a rise in US interest rates may be coming sooner than the market believes.

GENEVA (AFP) - A bid by the European Union to kickstart crucial trade talks with a new-sounding offer on agriculture tariffs fell flat on Monday with Brazil denouncing the proposal as "gimmickry".

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - On the eve of a Tuesday release of its latest earning figures Yahoo struck a truce with corporate raider Carl Icahn, ending his fight to oust the struggling Internet pioneer's board.

NEW YORK (AFP) - US finance giant American Express on Monday reported second-quarter net profit fell 38 percent from a year ago to 653 million dollars and said the outlook is clouded by a "weaker" American economy.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US videogame giant Electronic Arts (EA) on Monday extended anew the deadline on its two-billion-dollar offer to buy "Grand Theft Auto" maker Take-Two Interactive.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Apple on Monday reported its third-quarter profits topped a billion dollars on strong sales of its Macintosh computers, iPods, and iPhones.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Bank of America announced Monday a second-quarter profit of 3.41 billion dollars, down 41 percent from a year ago amid fresh writedowns from real estate but well above expectations.

BERLIN (AFP) - The German auto parts company Schaeffler Group said Monday it had sweetened its hostile bid for its significantly larger rival Continental.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices rebounded Monday, after falling more than 16 dollars last week, as a tropical storm barreled into the Gulf of Mexico and the international community tightened pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Boeing on Monday signed a contract with Qatar for C-17 military airlift planes, the US aerospace giant said, without revealing how many of the long-range troop and cargo aircraft were ordered.