AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Wednesday, July 25, 2007:

Amazon.com 2Q Profit More Than Triples

SEATTLE (AP) _ Investors went on an Amazon.com Inc. shopping spree Tuesday after the Web retailer said its second-quarter profit more than tripled, thanks to strong sales of books, music and electronics worldwide. Wall Street may also have been cheering a slowdown in spending on technology after several years of heavy investment.

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SEC Debating Shareholder Proposals

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Federal regulators are debating proposals related to shareholders gaining access to company ballots. One plan, setting a minimum level of stock ownership for the investors to get that access, has already stirred opposition from shareholder activist groups. The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering two alternative plans, addressing one of the more contentious issues to come before the agency during the two-year tenure of Chairman Christopher Cox. One would make all such proposals for proxy access binding on public companies if they win a majority of votes of the company's shareholders, but also would require that shareholders together own at least 5 percent of the corporation's stock to get them on the ballot. Changes in companies' bylaws approved that way, for example, could lead to shareholders nominating their own candidates for the board.

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Dow Sinks 226 on Mortgage Market Worries

NEW YORK (AP) _ Wall Street pulled back sharply Tuesday as investors dealt with disappointing earnings reports and rising concerns about the mortgage market. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 200 points. DuPont Co. was the Dow's biggest loser after the chemical maker reported flat second-quarter profit, as improving sales abroad balanced the ongoing weakness in the U.S. housing and automotive markets. Fellow Dow component American Express Co. said late Monday its quarterly profit climbed 12 percent on record card member spending. However, the nation's third-largest credit card brand said cardholders are also shirking more payments.

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Netflix Woes Deepen With Plunging Stock

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Netflix Inc. frustrated investors and customers alike Tuesday as its stock price plunged to its lowest point in more than two years while its Web site was inaccessible most of the day because of unexplained technical problems. The 7 percent drop in Netflix's shares wasn't a shock after the Los Gatos-based company reported the first quarterly customer losses in its history and dimmed its earnings outlook for the rest of the year.

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Nintendo Profit Jumps Fivefold

TOKYO (AP) _ Surging sales of Nintendo's Wii and DS video games lifted the company's quarterly profit fivefold, prompting the Japanese game maker to raise its annual earnings forecast 40 percent. Nintendo posted a net income of 80.25 billion yen ($667 million) for the April-June period, up from 15.55 billion yen a year earlier.

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UAL's $274M 2Q Profit Largest in 7 Years

CHICAGO (AP) _ United Airlines is flying high again _ especially overseas. United parent UAL Corp. reported its most profitable quarter in seven years Tuesday, a $274 million second-quarter profit that reflected increased capacity on international routes as well as fuller U.S. flights and lower costs. JetBlue Airways Corp. also posted solid second-quarter earnings, but its 50 percent profit increase was tempered by the announcement that it plans to slow its growth in the wake of the February ice-storm debacle.

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Oil Prices Fall in Asian Trading

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices fell Wednesday following a steep decline in the previous session and traders awaited the release of U.S. government data expected to show an increase in refinery utilization. Light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped 27 cents to $73.29 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midmorning in Singapore. The contract lost $1.33 to settle at $73.56 a barrel Tuesday.

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AT&T 2Q Net Profit Jumps 61 Percent

SAN ANTONIO (AP) _ AT&T Inc.'s earnings jumped 61 percent in the second-quarter, driven mostly by its acquisition of BellSouth Corp. but also boosted by new wireless subscribers and better sales to large business customers. The nation's largest provider of broadband Internet and land and wireless phone services said Tuesday that 146,000 subscribers activated new iPhones in the first 30 hours of sales as the quarter closed _ news that seemed to disappoint Apple Inc. investors a day ahead of that company's earnings release. The hotly anticipated device that combines phone, media player and Web-surfing capabilities can only be used on AT&T's network as part of exclusive deal between the companies.

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Countrywide Profit Sinks, Defaults Rise

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Countrywide Financial Corp. said Tuesday its second-quarter profit shrank by nearly a third as softening home prices led to rising delinquencies and mortgage defaults among the most creditworthy borrowers. The huge mortgage lender was forced to take impairment charges as it braced for the possibility of more people failing to make their mortgage payments.

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Toyota Develops Plug-In Hybrid Car

TOKYO (AP) _ Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it has developed a plug-in hybrid vehicle for public road tests in Japan and plans tests for the United States and Europe. Other major automakers, including General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., are developing plug-in hybrids, a key technology that reduces the gases causing global warming.

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Gold Prices

HONG KONG (AP) _ Gold closed at $677.85 an ounce on Wednesday in Hong Kong, down $4.80 an ounce from Tuesday's close of $682.65.

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Japan Markets

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stocks fell Wednesday following a sharp drop on Wall Street overnight and as lower crude prices led to a sell-off among oil companies like Nippon Oil.

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Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar fell to a new two-and-a-half-month low against the yen Wednesday in Asia amid continuing U.S. subprime mortgage woes.

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