Reuters - Fortune Brands Inc reported a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street's lowered expectations on Friday, after the consumer products maker had warned that weak consumer sentiment, the U.S. housing slump and higher taxes would depress earnings more than expected.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co posted a record $8.7 billion quarterly loss on Thursday as it wrote down the value of slumping truck and SUV operations and revamped plans in a bid to break its reliance on the gas-guzzlers that have been its franchise vehicles for a decade.

Reuters - Jobless claims jumped and the pace of existing home sales tumbled to a 10-year low as slowing growth hit hiring and a glut of unsold houses weighed on real estate, data released on Thursday showed.

AP - Two cornerstones of the economy — jobs and housing — sank to new depths Thursday, with unemployment claims bolting higher and home prices recording one of their steepest drops on record.

AP - Banks stepped up their borrowing over the past week from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program, while Wall Street firms didn't draw such loans.

AP - Sales of existing homes tumbled more sharply than expected in June, pushing activity down to the lowest level in more than a decade.

AP - Energy market investors managed to win back modest gains Thursday following oil's big drop a day earlier, but again drove natural gas prices sharply lower as a three-week sell-off of that fuel continued unabated.

AP - Wall Street abruptly ended an earnings-driven rally and closed sharply lower Thursday after a steeper-than-expected decline in existing home sales and worries about the financial sector chilled the market's recent optimism. The major indexes fell about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost more than 280 points.

Reuters - (Reuters) Futures for the Nasdaq were up 0.4 percent at 4:17 a.m. EDT on Friday while the the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P were both up 0.1 percent.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co posted a record $8.7 billion quarterly loss on Thursday as it wrote down the value of slumping truck and SUV operations and revamped plans in a bid to break its reliance on the gas-guzzlers that have been its franchise vehicles for a decade.