NEW YORK – Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest level on record for the fifth time in six weeks, making homebuying and refinancing the most attractive in decades for those who can get loans. The average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week was 4.54 percent, down from 4.56 last week, mortgage company Freddie Mac [...]

TOKYO – Nissan Motor Co. veered back into the black in its latest quarter as global car sales rebounded while its smaller rival Mitsubishi Motors Corp. narrowed its quarterly loss. Yokohama-based Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric vehicle and the March compact, said Thursday its profit was 106.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion) for the April-June [...]

FRANKFURT (AFP) – Volkswagen posted on Thursday a second quarter net profit of 1.25 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars), well above expectations and more than four times the previous year’s figure. Europe’s biggest automaker had made a profit of 283 million euros in the same period a year earlier, and financial analysts had expected a [...]

TOKYO – Sony bounced back to profit last quarter and raised its full-year earnings forecast, fueled by stronger demand for its PlayStation 3 gaming consoles, personal computers and televisions. The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant said Thursday it booked a net profit of 25.7 billion yen — or $294 million at current exchange rates — [...]

BERLIN – Sales at Volkswagen AG motored ahead in the second quarter, thanks in part to strong demand from China and helping to push earnings sharply higher to euro1.25 billion ($1.6 billion), the company said Thursday. The carmaker, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, had net earnings of euro283 million in last year’s April-June period. Revenue was [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – News and data provider Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) (TRI.N) forecast a return to growth this quarter on stronger sales of financial terminals for traders and the new WestlawNext database for lawyers. The company, which reported lower than-expected quarterly results, is slowly emerging from the shadow of the financial crisis, which triggered [...]

NEW YORK – News and information provider Thomson Reuters Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter net income fell 8 percent on weakness in its legal and markets divisions. The company is still recovering from last year’s economic downturn, which put a crimp in budgets at many of the law firms and financial institutions that it counts [...]

NEW YORK – Motorola Inc. on Thursday reported a sharply higher profit for the second quarter and stabilized its long revenue decline as it strategy of focusing on smart phones like the Droid bore fruit. Co-CEO Greg Brown said he expect the company to post a revenue increase for the third quarter, which would be [...]

DALLAS – Southwest Airlines Co. added an upbeat note to a strong quarter for the airline industry by reporting a $112 million profit for spring and early summer. The nation’s biggest discount airline said Thursday that its adjusted earnings were 29 cents per share in the second quarter, enough to beat analysts’ expectations. Revenue rose [...]

FRANKFURT (AFP) – German chemical groups posted solid results Thursday on sustained demand worldwide and a weaker euro, giving confidence a boost after last year’s difficult times. Although company executives warned the second half of 2010 would bring less impressive figures, a key sector of Europe’s biggest economy has clearly benefited from a pick-up in [...]