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Bank profits increased slightly in the third quarter while loan balances rose for the second consecutive quarter, a federal bank regulator said Tuesday. Banks earned $ 37.6 billion in the third quarter, up from $ 34.5 billion in the second quarter and up from $ 35.2 billion in the same period last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a quarterly report. Loan balances increased by $ 65 billion in the third quarter, while more than 55% of banks reported loan growth, the FDIC said. However, the increase was not as sharp as the $ 102 billion hike in [...]

A pair of studies from a leading credit reporting agency shows that credit card use continues to stabilize, especially in parts of the country hit hardest by the recession. Equifax’s recent National Consumer Credit Trends Report measured increases in auto loans, student loans, and new credit cards. Meanwhile, a study of regional credit card debt shows that overall balances keep shrinking in cities where consumers bore the brunt of unemployment and declining home prices. For the first time since April 2010, the number of open American credit card accounts topped 300 million. While credit limits on those cards have risen [...]

LOS ANGELES Chief executives, presidents and chairs of more than 80 top U.S. corporations are calling on Congress to use a mix of spending cuts and tax-revenue increases to curb the nation’s deficit, The Wall Street Journal reported early Thursday, citing an open letter due to be released later in the day. The signatories include such well-known executives as Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey Immelt, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon. The statement doesn’t endorse either presidential candidate’s economic plan, but rather hews to ideas [...]

Gannett Co Inc reported better than expected revenue and higher profit on television advertising related to the Olympics and the presidential election and on subscription revenue at its newspapers, thanks to its online pay model. The newspaper and broadcast owner said on Monday that third-quarter revenue rose 3.4 percent to $ 1.31 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $ 1.29 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Gannett, which is the largest U.S. newspaper chain with 82 properties including USA Today and the Indianapolis Star, said revenue at its publishing division declined 3 percent to $ 890.2 million. Broadcasting revenue increased [...]

Fees for financial services are multiplying like rabbits, and consumers are fed up. Seventy-two percent of Americans say they would consider switching banks if their financial institution raised checking account fees, according to Bankrate’s September Financial Security Index. Only 22% of those surveyed say they would not move to another checking account provider because of increased checking fees. Income and education seemed to have some influence over bank-fee ire. Eighty-two percent of those earning more than $ 75,000 per year say they would switch, as opposed to 67% of people with yearly incomes of less than $ 30,000. Eighty-one percent [...]

U.S. retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.9% in August as spending rose sharply on autos and gasoline, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Excluding autos, which can have an outsized impact on the report, retail sales climbed 0.8%. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected retail sales to rise by 0.8% last month, or by 0.8% minus autos. The boost in sales, however, was largely driven by higher gasoline prices as consumers had to pay more at the pump. Gas stations reported a 5.5% increase in sales, the biggest gain since November 2009. Auto sales rose 1.3% last month while purchases at [...]

The finance ministers of the seven leading industrial economies on Tuesday stopped short of asking the International Energy Agency to release emergency oil inventories but said they were monitoring the situation in oil markets closely. In a statement, the G-7 said there were substantial risks to the global economy from elevated oil prices. The ministers asked oil-producing countries to increase their oil output. “We encourage oil-producing countries to increase their output to meet demand, while drawing prudently on excess capacity,” the statement said. They noted that Saudi Arabia had committed earlier in the summer to mobilize spare capacity to ensure [...]

Rising fares are helping Southwest Airlines Co. more than offset the high cost of jet fuel. The airline said Thursday that second-quarter profit soared 42 percent on record revenue. Southwest’s average one-way fare topped $ 150, up 5 percent from last summer. Plenty of passengers were willing to pay the higher prices as the peak vacation season began – traffic measured in miles traveled also rose 5 percent. But airlines may be worried that consumers are unwilling to go higher. After nearly a dozen broad fare increases in 2011, there have only three this year, the last in late March. [...]

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