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Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the larger U.S. cable service provider, posted a higher quarterly profit as it gained market share in phone and Internet services and controlled expenses, sending shares up 6 percent.

Comcast reported a tripling of its free cash flow - a measurement of net cash the company prefers, largely due to a drop in capital expenditure as a slowdown in U.S. homebuilding meant that it spent less expanding its cable systems to new communities.

While that spending slowdown contributed to weaker video subscriber growth, analysts said Comcast was winning market share from phone competitors including AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

“Free cash flow was better than we expected and that was partly due to the fewer customer adds, so they didn’t incur costs of adding new subscribers,” said Tom Eagan, analyst at Collins Stewart.

Shares in Comcast rose $1.08 cents to $20.26 payday advance. Shares of Time Warner Cable (TWC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) also rose 4 percent, while Cablevision (CVC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares rose 4.8 percent

Comcast, which has 24.6 million subscribers, said it added 278,000 high speed Internet subscribers and 500,000 phone subscribers in the second quarter. Seven analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast Comcast to add 327,000 new Internet subscribers and 579,000 new phone subs.

Comcast Chief Operating Officer Steve Burke told analysts on a conference call that Comcast’s faster Internet access speeds are helping to win over phone company DSL customers as they want to watch more online video.

Burke said the company is also on target to add more than 2 million phone subscribers by the end of the year. It currently has 5.6 million, making it the fourth largest U.S. phone provider. 

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Philippine import growth slowed for a fourth straight month in May as manufacturers bought fewer electronics parts, signaling exports of the country's laptop computers and mobile-phone chips may fall further.

Imports rose 11.3 percent from a year earlier to $4.78 billion, after gaining 11.8 percent in April, the National Statistics Office said in Manila today. That's the smallest gain since October.

“There is an ongoing global slowdown, which bodes ill for our exports, particularly the electronics sector,'' said Ildemarc Bautista, an economist at Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. in Manila.

Exporters in Asia are hurting from a housing recession and growth slowdown in the U.S., the region's largest overseas market. Overseas sales account for about two-fifths of the Philippines' $118 billion economy, where growth is forecast to slow from last year's three-decade high.

Neighboring Singapore's exports fell for a second month in June as electronics shipments declined for a 17th consecutive month. Philippine electronics shipments, which make up two- thirds of total exports, declined 3.4 percent in May from a year earlier.

North American orders for semiconductor equipment fell 36 percent in June as chipmakers curbed spending amid a 17-month industry contraction, according to trade group Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International http://abc-cashadvance.com.

Electronics Parts

Philippine imports of electronics parts fell 14.4 percent from a year earlier to $1.51 billion in May, after a 10.6 percent decline the previous month. More than 40 percent of imports are raw materials purchased by local units of Texas Instruments Inc. and other manufacturers.

Crude oil and other fuel imports rose 50 percent in May from a year earlier to $1.18 billion. Purchases of raw materials fell 6.4 percent to $1.71 billion. Imports of consumer goods added 53.9 percent to $629 million. Capital goods purchases, including telecommunications equipment and machinery, declined 2.2 percent to $1.19 billion.

The trade deficit widened to $559 million in May from $168 million a year earlier, today's report showed. The shortfall for the first five months of the year was $3.16 billion, compared with $347 million a year earlier. Exports increased 2.3 percent in May.

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Delinquencies among commercial mortgages rose slightly in June due to increases in delinquencies among office and retail sectors, credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings said Monday.

Fitch said June delinquencies rose to 0.41% among commercial-mortgage backed securities from 0.39% a month earlier.

Both office and retail mortgage defaults are still below the commercial mortgage delinquency average, despite their increases in June.

Retail delinquencies rose to 0.21% from 0.17% in May, Fitch said. The increase came as 15 additional loans went delinquent in June.

About 0.19% of loans secured by offices were delinquent in June, Fitch said.

Multifamily homes continue to account for the most delinquencies among commercial mortgages quick payday loan. The sector’s delinquency index is 1.77%. Multifamily home mortgages accounted for 57% of all commercial mortgage delinquencies in June, though among they make up only 14.6% of all loans reviewed by Fitch.

Each month, Fitch reviews delinquencies among commercial mortgages backing securities it rates to determine the sector’s delinquency rate. 

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The cholesterol fighter Vytorin sold by Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Schering-Plough Corp (SGP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) failed to meet the main goal of improving outcomes better than a placebo in a closely-watched heart study, according to data presented on Monday.

The data, which did contain some positive news about the drug, did little to remove the cloud hanging over Vytorin since January from a previous study and the shares of both companies fell sharply. Vytorin use has declined since that study failed to show the combination drug worked any better in cutting arterial plaque than the cheaper generic statin that is one of its two components.

Slightly higher incidents of cancer deaths were seen in those taking the drug — 39 versus 23 on placebo — in the new study, although the lead researcher said those could have occurred as a result of chance.

No significant difference in the study’s composite heart goals was seen between patients who received Vytorin and those who took a placebo, according to data presented in London by its primary researcher, Dr freecreditscore. Terje Pedersen of Ulleval University Hospital in Oslo, Norway.

“The study seems to reinforce that we really do not know the effect of this drug on patients, whether it provides an important benefit or even a harm,” said Harlan Krumholz, a prominent researcher from Yale University who has closely watched Vytorin developments.

“More than ever we need the results of a large trial to guide us about how best to use the drug,” said Krumholz, adding: “In the meantime, patients and doctors should realize that there is substantial uncertainty about the net effect of the drug, even as it lowers cholesterol levels.”

Such a trial is underway but the results are years away.

Researchers played down the cancer data, saying much larger studies of Vytorin have not showed increased cancer risk. 

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The U.S. housing crisis looks pretty distant when viewed from the cornfields of middle America, although land values pushed up by record commodity prices also evoke past booms that ended in bust.

Farm prices in the corn belt jumped an eye-popping 20-plus percent last year. Economists at the Kansas City Federal Reserve say that so far, the gains seem to be based on anticipated profits from future harvests, not speculation.

If prices suddenly turned lower, the sector could suffer, and it would not be the first time. Farm values collapsed 40 percent between 1982-87, squeezed by higher production costs and lower agricultural earnings.

“If prices stay put we’re somewhat better, but if they don’t, we’re somewhat in trouble … It’s not all roses,” said Dennis Kvatum, a soybean and wheat farmer in Beardsley, Minnesota.

On the other hand, farmers have far fewer debts than in the 1970s and 1980s, giving them a decent cushion.

“Rising farmland values might be a sign of a bright, new, golden age in agriculture — but they are not without risks, noted the Kansas City Fed’s latest Economic Review.

In the meantime, the rest of the regional economy is benefiting from the sector’s strength, albeit with typical Midwestern understatement.

“Our business is really not bad free credit report without a credit card. In fact, it’s pretty good,” said Mike Haverty, chief executive officer of Kansas City Southern railway, whose trains haul cargo like coal and grain for export to ports in Mexico. 

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IndyMac’s startling collapse last week sparked fears that other institutions could follow suit. Yet, several veteran banking analysts say that there won’t be nearly as many bank collapses as there were in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1989, a period just before the peak of the savings & loan crisis, 534 institutions failed. During that tumultuous period, more than 1,000 institutions shut their doors.

"We will not approach nearly that level," said Gary Townsend, a former bank analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, who now serves as the president of the Chevy Chase, Md.-based Hill-Townsend Capital. "The system is much better capitalized and banks are better credit managers than they were back then."

To that end, IndyMac was just the fifth bank failure this year. The other failed firms were mostly smaller community institutions.

In a note published Monday, Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Richard Bove wrote that the banking sector is "not anywhere near the danger" seen nearly two decades ago. He pointed out that the number of non-performing assets compared to the number of outstanding loans remain just a fraction of the levels during the early 1990s.

At that time, roughly 1,500 institutions were on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s so-called "problem list" of banks considered at risk of failure.

That’s a far cry from today’s environment.

As of late May, just 90 institutions were on FDIC’s troubled bank list. That number could grow when the FDIC releases its latest reading on the state of the banking industry in August. But on a historical basis it still remains relatively low.

While the global financial institutions have had to write down billions of dollars as a result of the mortgage crisis, many industry analysts anticipate the failures going forward to crop up at the community banking level or among the mortgage-centric thrift banks.

A rash of failures at the community level could have far-reaching effects. Smaller banks are big players in the business of construction loans made to homebuilders. More failures could tighten lending standards further, squeezing certain pockets of the housing market even more than they already have been.

But the FDIC continues to stress that accounts up to $100,000 at a failed bank are insured. For this reason, FDIC chairman Sheila Bair said in a statement Sunday that "for insured depositors, IndyMac’s conversion has been largely a non-event."

Still, IndyMac marked the largest collapse of an FDIC-insured institution since 1984, when Continental Illinois, which had $40 billion in assets, failed.

That prompted speculation Monday that other big firms facing massive loan troubles could suffer a similar fate.

Washington Mutual (WM, Fortune 500) shares tumbled more than 30% Monday after a Lehman Brothers analyst suggested the Seattle-based thrift may need to raise its reserves significantly to cover its home loan losses payday loans. Ladenburg Thalmann’s Bove warned that WaMu is on the edge of the "danger zone."

After the market closed Monday, WaMu said in a statement that the bank "significantly exceeds all regulatory ‘well-capitalized’ minimums for depository institutions."

National City (NCC, Fortune 500) shares plunged on market speculation that the company was close to failure. The bank issued a statement Monday saying it was well capitalized and was not suffering a liquidity crisis.

But Bair told members of Congress last month that her office was preparing for the possibility of a large bank failure but added that she did not anticipate such a scenario.

What may also stem the tide of bank failures this year is that some institutions could get bought before reaching the brink of collapse.

At the same time, private-equity firms and sovereign wealth funds have proved willing to provide funding to capital-hungry banks. Earlier this year, both National City and WaMu raised cash by selling outside stakes to top private-equity firms.

During the S&L crisis, that option wasn’t always available, notes T. Timothy Ryan Jr., a former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision. Ryan helped guide the S&L cleanup and currently serves as the president and CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

"We had no capacity to raise private equity for institutions that were undercapitalized," said Ryan. "That is wholly different today."  

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Falling stock markets around the globe and the credit crunch are putting the pension funds of some of the largest U.S. companies into deeper financial holes, according to a report released Monday.

Since the credit crunch hit last fall, pension plans funded by S&P 1500 companies have lost about $280 billion in assets, according to an actuary at Mercer, a human resources consulting firm.

On paper, the losses from last October tally $160 billion. However, according to Mercer actuary Adrian Hartshorn, the asset losses are closer to $280 billion when pension plan assets and liabilities are considered together. The assets, which totaled roughly $1.7 trillion at the end of October 2007, fell by 17%, leaving about $1.4 trillion in assets at the end of June.

Companies should be concerned, he said, because - assuming no change in the market - a typical U.S. company can expect their pension expenses to increase between 20% and 30% in 2009 payday advance lender. That’s due to the higher cost of servicing the pension plan’s debt and the smaller return from the plan’s assets.

"I think it’s important for corporations to be aware of what’s going on in their pension plans, as corporations would be concerned when any part of its business is performing badly," Hartshorn said.

According to the report, the total losses on pension assets and liabilities from the last day of 2007 through the end of June has grown to more than $80 billion.

Part of the loss has been reflected in companies’ current financial statements, but many losses incurred since the end of 2007 have yet to hit company balance sheets.

The affected pension plans are qualified and non-qualified plans. 

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Australia's construction industry contracted for a fourth month in June as lending rates at a 12- year high reduced demand for houses and factories.

An index measuring construction edged up to 40.3 points last month from 36.9 in May, according to a report by the Australian Industry Group and Housing Industry Association released in Sydney today. A reading below 50 indicates the construction industry is declining.

Slowing building work will further cool an economy that grew at the weakest pace in almost two years in the first quarter. Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens left Australia's benchmark interest rate unchanged at 7.25 percent last week, saying four increases since August are working to moderate domestic demand and damp inflation pressures bad credit payday loan.

“The outlook remains subdued, with further weakness in activity likely to persist over coming months,'' said Tony Pensabene, an associate director of economics at the Australian Industry Group. “Falling demand, weaker economic conditions and increased competition for work are cited by firms for the continued falloff in activity.''

Today's survey is based on responses from about 120 construction companies on sales, new orders, deliveries, employment and input costs.

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Midwest floods may not contribute as much to food inflation as was feared.

Corn prices fell Monday after the government surprised traders, reporting farmers tried to cash in on soaring corn demand for ethanol by planting more acres of the crop than the market expected.

That could be good news for shoppers, although food prices still have to contend with rising costs for distribution and for fuel.

Farmers will harvest nearly 9% fewer acres of corn this year than last year, in part because of Midwest flooding that has damaged a portion of the crop, the government reported.

But the latest USDA figures also showed that farmers had planted more than a million additional acres of corn than they had expected to plant in March, which may remove some of the inflation potential out of the floods. Corn futures prices fell in the wake of Monday’s report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said farmers expect to harvest 78.9 million acres of corn, down 8.7% from the 86.5 million harvested last year.

The report also indicates farmers planted nearly 7% fewer acres of corn than last year - 87.3 million acres versus last year’s 93.6 million acres.

But the acres planted were still higher than the 86 million acres that farmers had anticipated planting, when asked in March.

Grain analyst Dan Basse, president of Chicago-based AgResource Co., an agricultural consulting firm, said high corn prices encouraged farmers to find more land to plant in corn.

Even with the anticipated reduction in harvested acres caused by flooding, Basse said a robust corn harvest could soften corn prices.

"They’ll weaken with time and I don’t see an economic reason why new crop corn futures need to be above 8 or new crop soybean futures need to be above 16 unless we have a drought," he said.

Corn futures, which were about $6 a bushel in early June and rose to about $7.60 as recently as last week, dropped nearly 30 cents to about $7.25 on the Chicago Board of Trade.

An ethanol industry trade group, Renewable Fuels Association, said the anticipated corn harvest will be enough to satisfy projected needs.

The group said a harvest of around 11.5 billion bushels will meet projected demand and leave about 800 million bushels left over. The USDA said about 4 billion bushels of corn remain in the nation’s stockpiles.

"American farmers have again proven their detractors wrong, demonstrating that they are uniquely capable of meeting the growing demand for feed, food, fiber and fuel," said RFA President Bob Dinneen in a statement. "Despite challenging spring weather conditions and an unprecedented flooding event, farmers have responded to the needs of the marketplace by planting the second largest area of corn since 1946."

Dan Cekander, an analyst for Chicago-based Newedge USA, said grain prices are likely to have less of an impact on food inflation than other factors. Food costs climbed about 4% in fiscal 2007 which ended in July and Cekander said they could climb to as high as 6 to 7%.

"It’s more of a function of distribution and energy and other factors," he said.

Grain analyst Jim Bower, Lafayette, Ind.-based Bower Trading Inc no teletrak payday loans. said corn prices will be highly dependent on the remaining growing season.

"Whatever the weather does between about July 10 and Aug. 15 is which way that corn market will probably go. If the weather is bad and we keep reducing the yield down, we go up. If the weather is good, it’s mild like it has been in the last 10 days or so, then probably we may have seen the highs," he said.

Soybean stocks reported at 676 million bushels were slightly lower than expected and yield-reducing weather problems also could have a major impact on soybean prices, he said.

July soybeans were trading just above 6 cents higher Monday at $15.88.

The USDA report said spring rainfall totaled 20 inches or more from eastern Oklahoma into the lower Ohio Valley, disrupting planting and other spring field work. That is at least 150% of normal.

The planted acres decreased in nine of the 10 major corn producing states - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin - in part because of high fertilizer prices, favorable prices for other crops and a return to normal crop rotation, the USDA said.

Illinois saw the largest decline, where farmers planted 12.3 million acres down from the record high of 13.2 million planted last year. Indiana decreased 800,000 acres and Minnesota, 600,000 acres.

Iowa continues to lead the nation in corn planted area with 13.7 million acres, down 500,000 from last year.

Kansas farmers planted 4.1 million acres up from 3.9 million in 2007.

Despite the reductions, the planted acres are still the second highest since 1946, behind last year.

Harvest acres, if realized, will be the second highest since 1944, the USDA said.

The report also said planted soybean acres will increase 17% from last year to 74.5 million acres.

The planted soybean acres are expected to increase in all states and the planted area for soybeans is the third largest on record, the USDA said.

Nationally, farmers reported 79% of the soybean crop had been planted at the time of the survey last week, the lowest since 1996.

July soybeans were trading 24 1/4 cents higher at $16.06.

The USDA reinterviewed 1,200 farmers last week to get the most updated information reflecting the impact of Midwest flooding.

A government update on crop progress will come from the USDA on Aug. 12 and will be based on a survey of 9,000 farmers from mid-July, said Carol House, chairwoman of the Agriculture Statistics Board. 

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The U.S. economy continues to bump along at a slow level of growth but has probably not fallen into recession, a series of regional purchasing managers’ reports suggested on Monday.

National surveys this week are expected to show the factory sector shrinking a bit in June while the services side ekes out a small gain. Between the two, the United States is managing to stay in the positive growth column.

The closely watched National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago survey showed conditions in the Midwest region contracted for a fifth straight month, although at a less severe rate than Wall Street analysts had expected.

“We are surprised that the Chicago PMI was not weaker in June given the region’s sensitivity to the ailing auto sector,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities.

The NAPM-Chicago business barometer rose to 49.6 from 49.1 in May, the strongest since January and above the median forecast of 48.0 cash advance today. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. The index has revived from February’s 44.5.

“It looks as if manufacturing in the Midwest is holding its own,” said Gary Thayer, senior economist at Wachovia Securities in St. Louis. “Things aren’t getting a lot better, but are stable at this point,”

Still, sub-components of the Chicago index looked less promising than the headline, analysts noted. Production, at 45.1, was the lowest in 90 months, and new orders dropped to 52.0, the lowest since February.

“In response to the housing slump, higher energy costs and iffy consumer spending in the second half, businesses are cutting their outlays,” said Lindsey Piegza, economic analyst at FTN Financial in New York. 

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