Business News

WASHINGTON - The Labor Department issues its report on unemployment for June this morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The average forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch sees nonfarm payroll growth of about 175,000 in June, following a tepid 75,000 gain in May. But a report earlier in the week from payroll giant ADP predicted a gain of about 380,000, more than twice as big.

TOKYO - Japan's finance minister urged the central bank Friday to watch the market reaction to North Korea's recent missile tests, ahead of the Bank of Japan's meeting next week when the bank may raise interest rates for the first time in six years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry Paulson will be sworn in on Monday as the new U.S. Treasury Secretary, the White House said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. service sector grew more slowly than expected in June, but the labor market showed strength as jobless claims dipped unexpectedly last week, according to data released on Thursday.

CARACAS, Venezuela - A landslide all but wiped out Wilfredo Rodriguez's small shoemaking business last year, entitling him to a loan from President Hugo Chavez's government — money he says he never would've found elsewhere.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures edged higher on Friday with energy companies in focus after U.S. crude hit a new all-time high, but investors were cautious before a key jobs report, which may give clues on the outlook for interest rates.

LONDON - U.S. stock market futures were steady Friday before the usually momentous monthly payrolls data, though markets may already be conditioned for figures that would prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep hiking interest rates.

TORONTO (CP) - The job market was front and centre for financial markets Friday, as Canada's unemployment rate held steady at a 32-year low and investors awaited U.S. payroll data (at 8:30 a.m. EDT).

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. shares looked set to open a shade lower on Friday, but all hangs on June jobs data, due out at 1230 GMT, and what the figures suggest about future Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Dow Jones Industrials

BOSTON (Reuters) - Acuity Brands Inc. , a maker of lighting products and specialty chemicals, on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings that topped analysts' expectations.

After recent tumbles, the major European stock markets are beginning to show some glimmers of life. Even so, conditions remain highly unpredictable. A recent report from S&P Equity Research highlights some of the most important risk factors for the European markets. They are inflation (including interest rate concerns), currency exchange rates and, most seriously, corporate earnings that might not meet forecasts.

Phil Mickelson and his sponsor, Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY - News), have a lot in common. Both have been up and down over the past few years. Mickelson has won the Masters in two of the past three years, and he was on the way to winning the U.S. Open until he double bogeyed the final hole. In a historic collapse, Mickelson managed to hit both a tree and a hospitality tent. Callaway, like Mickelson, has followed success with failure. In 2001, Callaway earned $58.4 million, and the stock was trading as high as $27 per share. However, by 2005, Callaway's earnings fell to $13. ...

A leading indicator tells what's going to happen -- like the smell of pizza in a box suggests that a meal's near.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Calpine Corp. , a California power producer whose bankruptcy is one of the largest in U.S. history, on Monday said its first-quarter loss more than tripled, as revenue fell by roughly one-third.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage applications rose for the first time in three weeks as interest rates on home loans fell from a four-year high during a week when the Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs, an industry trade group said on Thursday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Nikkei average fell 1.30 percent on Thursday as investors sold Advantest Corp. (6857.T) and other technology stocks amid growing concerns about further rate hikes in the United States, a major Japanese trade partner.

NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. - Weekly Home Mortgage Rates

TORONTO (Reuters) - Large numbers of Canadians would make a double-or-nothing bet on a big-ticket item like credit card debt, while 18 percent would gamble on their mortgage, according to a survey conducted for a gaming Web site.

NEW YORK - Life cycle funds that are becoming increasingly popular are meant to make retirement planning easy. But that's not how investors have been using them, mutual fund companies say.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's BMW , the world's largest premium carmaker, sold only 1 percent more vehicles to customers in June amid a tough comparison from a year earlier, its said on Friday.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. said on Friday that its first-half Chinese retail sales had risen 101.8 percent from a year earlier to 74,395 vehicles, as it rolled out new models.

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AFP) - Bayer, the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant, has said it had raised 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollar) from the issue of new shares to help finance the acquisition of contraceptive drug specialist Schering.

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AFP) - Bayer, the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant, said it was issuing 34 million new shares to help finance the acquisition of contraceptive drug specialist Schering.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc. said on Friday it registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission toward a possible spinoff of its directories business.

At 3:30 a.m. on May 27, Oisin Walton, a French former ad executive, was up late doing some paperwork when he got a text message about an earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale that had hit the Indonesian island of Java. Walton went to bed immediately, knowing that he would need to get some sleep because soon he would be on his way to the disaster.

The U.S. government's June employment report, scheduled for release July 7, could pack quite a surprise for forecasters. We at Action Economics expect the report's headline nonfarm payrolls number to post a 230,000 gain, following the subpar 75,000 increase in May.

As a movie star, Adam Sandler has been a walkingmake that stumblinganomaly. His comic bits are, well, dopey to the point of distraction. He does his best work when he's mumbling, often in a faux hillbilly accent. And the critics darn near hate him. But his films work where it counts, with the folks who plunk down their $9 or so for his films. His latest, Click, a shameless takeoff on the old holiday chestnut It's A Wonderful Life, uses a remote control that allows a workaholic architect to fast forward and rewind his life. ...

NEW YORK - Life cycle funds that are becoming increasingly popular are meant to make retirement planning easy. But that's not how investors have been using them, mutual fund companies say.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If economic numbers show inflation is contained and no major companies warn of poor results in the coming earnings season, stocks could rise in the holiday-shortened week ahead.

(PRWEB) July 7, 2006 -- Kirk Bachelder of CTS Wholesale Sunglasses (http:

Beaverton, Oregon (PRWEB) July 7, 2006 -- SoldItLive.

Fountain Valley, California (PRWEB) July 7, 2006 - Nestled high atop the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico, at 7,300 feet, rests a special astronomical research facility run by the Remote Astronomical Research Society.

(PRWEB) July 7, 2006 -- The Christian book industry aims to win souls and sell books, in that order.

Norwalk, CT (PRWEB) July 7, 2006 -- As the temperature rises, so does traffic on our nation’s waterways, lakes and coastal areas, as recreational boaters join commercial vessels to take advantage of our aquatic resources.

SEATTLE - Cingular Wireless Corp. promised to provide uninterrupted service to AT&T Wireless customers when it acquired that company in 2004, but instead it nickel-and-dimed them and degraded their reception in an effort to persuade them to sign new contracts, a federal lawsuit said Thursday.

As a movie star, Adam Sandler has been a walkingmake that stumblinganomaly. His comic bits are, well, dopey to the point of distraction. He does his best work when he's mumbling, often in a faux hillbilly accent. And the critics darn near hate him. But his films work where it counts, with the folks who plunk down their $9 or so for his films. His latest, Click, a shameless takeoff on the old holiday chestnut It's A Wonderful Life, uses a remote control that allows a workaholic architect to fast forward and rewind his life. ...

MIAMI - Two Miami law firms were awarded more than $300 million Thursday in attorneys fees for their work in a 15-year legal battle involving Exxon Mobil Corp. and thousands of service station dealers who sued the company.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A huge legal victory for Big Tobacco in Florida considerably brightens the industry's future. With the threat of a $145 billion damage award removed, tobacco makers saw their share prices jump as investors cheered clarity on what had been the largest punitive award in U.S. history.

ATLANTA - A secretary accused of helping two men steal trade secrets from The Coca-Cola Co. and trying to sell them to rival PepsiCo Inc. was ordered released on bond Thursday in a blockbuster case her lawyer likened to "a spy novel."