monday market malady, page-133

of Monday's earnings reports brought good news. Health benefits provider Humana Inc. said its second-quarter profit more than doubled year-over-year, while HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's largest bank by market value, said that while lending risks remain, its first-half earnings rose by 25 percent

Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, posted a 4.5 percent gain in profit in the second quarter after signing up 1.3 million wireless customers. The Verizon Wireless unit agreed to buy Rural Cellular Corp. for $757 million.

Net income rose to $1.68 billion, or 58 cents a share, from $1.61 billion, or 55 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Verizon said today in a statement. Sales climbed 6.3 percent to $23.3 billion, beating analysts' estimates


Humana Inc., the second-largest provider of U.S.-funded Medicare plans, said earnings more than doubled as medical costs consumed a smaller share of revenue from premiums.

Second-quarter net income rose to $216.8 million, or $1.28 a share, from $89.5 million, or 53 cents, a year earlier, Louisville, Kentucky-based Humana said today in a statement on Business Wire. The profit beat the $1.19 average of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 19 percent to $6.4 billion.

**************************************\


so far all good.