”Ford delivered a very solid quarter, and our transformation plan remains well on track,” crowed the company’s CFO, Lewis Booth, in announcing that Ford earned a surprising $2.3 billion in the second quarter. That’s way better than analysts’ expectations of a $1.5 billion loss, and a striking turnaround from last year’s second quarter, when the company bled $8.7 billion in red ink.

There was somewhat less to the healthy profit than meets the eye, because all of it derived from a $3.4 billion one-time gain related to debt restructurings. On an aftertax basis, after special items, Ford lost $638 million. Still, the numbers indicated that Ford, the only one of Detroit’s Big Three not to have gone through bankruptcy, boosted expectations that the company may survive the downturn without having to take emergency government aid. That helped raise Ford stock by 9% in midafternoon trading and contributed to a broader maket rally, with the Dow up more than 2% at 3 p.m.

Source: Detroit Free Press

VW and Porsche Tie the Knot

Volkswagen’s supervisory board agreed on a plan to merge with Porsche in an attempt to end the long-running takeover battle between the two car companies. A Qatar investment company will acquire 17% of VW as part of the deal, and Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking will step down after 16 years, as well as CFO Holger Harter. Wiedeking opposed selling Porsche’s automotive unit to VW, Europe’s largest carmaker. Instead he accumulated Volkswagen shares, raising Porsche’s stake to more than 50% and taking options on an additional 20%. That boosted Porsche’s debt to $14.2 billion, forcing the CEO to turn to the company’s family owners, the Piechs and Porsches, for capital and to court Qatar for an investment.

Source: Bloomberg

South Korea Fines Qualcomm $208 Million

The nation’s fair trade regulator announced it is hitting Qualcomm with a record fine for what it described as abuse of market dominance. Qualcomm said it would fight the decision. The Korea Fair Trade regulator has been investigating Qualcomm since 2006 and said the company abused its dominant market share in CDMA mobile chips by charging higher royalties to companies that used rival chipsets.

Source: Associated Press

U.S. Home Sales Rise Again

Existing-home sales rose more than expected in June from the previous month, ticking up 3.6% to a 4.89 million annual rate. Distressed sales continue to make up a large proportion of all transactions, 31% in June, helping to drive prices down 15.4% from June of last year.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Obama’s Health Care Press Conference: Few Real Answers

It wasn’t much of an event Wednesday evening, as President Barack Obama sought to regain the momemtum behind his expansive plans to reform the American health care system. Obama did his job skillfully and easily explained the essentials of why he believes reform is needed. One reason for his success, however, may be that the questioners didn’t do their jobs nearly as well as he did his.

Source: BusinessWeek

The Tech Sector Sees Signs of Shoppers

While these are still rough days for many companies, the tech industry’s giants are beginning to see signs that consumers could step up their spending in the coming months. Chipmakers Intel and Texas Instruments joined Apple in reporting better-than-expected earnings and said their customers are beginning to build up inventories in anticipation of stronger demand later this year.

Source: BusinessWeek

Wal-Mart Woos Laptop Shoppers

Wal-Mart Stores has expanded its laptop selection by 40% and will be aggressive in pricing the computers and the accessories to go with them as the discount retailer looks to win sales from frugal back-to-school shoppers. Starting this Sunday, Wal-Mart will begin selling an exclusive Compaq Presario notebook computer that it developed in partnership with Hewlett-Packard for $298.

Source: Reuters

Berkshire sells nearly 8 million Moody’s shares

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s company has unloaded nearly 8 million shares of Moody’s stock and reduced its stake in the credit rating agency to 17%. Berkshire Hathaway revealed the sales in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. Buffett’s Omaha-based company held 48 million shares of Moody’s stock on March 31 just before Moody’s cut Berkshire pristine triple-A credit rating.

Source: Associated Press via BusinessWeek

Hyundai Net Profit Jumps 48%

Hyundai Motor, said net profit rose 48% to a record in the second quarter, aided by shareholding gains from affiliates in China and India and tax incentives that boosted domestic sales. The company, South Korea’s largest carmaker by sales, said net profit for the three months ended June 30 jumped to $648.7 million from a year earlier.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Bristol-Myers to buy Medarex for $2.4 billion

Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibbon Wednesday said it will pay $2.4 billion to acquire Medarex, a biotechnology company that has been helping it develop a promising treatment for melanoma since 2005. Medarex’s expertise in making antibody-based drugs could help Bristol-Myers as it strives to regain its stature as one of the world’s leading players in the oncology market.

Source: Reuters

Asian Stocks Rise on Yen, U.S. Housing Prices

Asian stocks rose for an eighth day, led by automakers and technology companies, as a weaker yen boosted the prospects for Japanese export earnings and U.S. housing prices unexpectedly gained. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.4% as of 3:57 p.m. in Tokyo. The gauge has gained 9.2% in the past eight days, the longest winning streak since January.

Source: Bloomberg