Florida Bad Credit Home Mortgage

Sprint Posts Lower 2Q Profit

Sprint Nextel Corp. said Thursday that its second-quarter profit fell 38 percent as the nation's third-largest wireless carrier absorbed costs from its formative merger last year.

Sprint Nextel, struggling to attract and retain higher-paying subscribers, also slightly lowered its earnings guidance.

Sprint shares plunged to a new 52-week low, down $2.95, or 14.7 percent, to $17.18 in morning trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company earned $370 million, or 12 cents per share, in the three months that ended June 30, compared with $599 million, or 40 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

Not including merger-related amortization expenses and other one-time charges, the company said it earned 32 cents per share, falling a penny short of the 33 cents per share predicted by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Commbank profit jumps to $2.9B

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd., the country's second-biggest bank, met forecasts with a 16.7 percent rise in second-half earnings on stronger lending and said it expected good profit growth for fiscal 2007.

Net profit for the year ended June 30 rose 16 percent to A$3.928 billion ($2.98 billion), driven by a 20 percent rise in business lending, a 10 percent increase in home loans and a 23 percent jump in funds under administration.

CBA, which completed a three-year restructuring in June designed to lower costs, upgrade technology and improve customer service, said its credit quality was sound and it expected to deliver both revenue growth and productivity improvements.

Chief Executive Ralph Norris, who has been in the top job for 11 months, said the bank expected to deliver fiscal 2007 earnings per share growth that equalled or exceeded the average of its top three rivals -- National Australia Bank Ltd., ANZ Banking Group Ltd.

Fed May Finally Pause Rate Hikes

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues appear ready to call a halt to the longest unbroken stretch of Fed interest rate increases in recent history, providing at least temporary relief to millions of consumer and business borrowers.

But the pause in interest rate increases could be short-lived as Fed policy-makers deliberated behind closed-doors on Tuesday. They're confronting rising inflation pressures in the form of a relentless surge in energy prices and new data that wage pressures are intensifying.

The central bank has not missed a chance to boost interest rates since it started the current credit tightening campaign in June 2004, the longest unbroken stretch of Fed rate hikes in recent history.

It has nudged the federal funds rate up by a quarter-point at each of 17 consecutive meetings, going from a 46-year low of 1 percent to the current level of 5.25 percent.

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