Getting your player ready...
NEW YORK — U.S. companies’ second-quarter earnings were fairly respectable when you strip away the financial sector. Looking more closely, it’s clear that companies managed that feat by cutting costs and jobs to cope with soaring commodities prices, a broken credit market and the housing slump.
Of the more than 70 percent of the S&P 500 companies reporting results, profit for the entire group is down almost 20 percent from a year ago. But remove banks and brokerages, and S&P 500 members have seen profit grow by about 10 percent. The Associated Press
