Boeing loses $1.6-billion

AP

Charges from its delayed 787 and a new version of its 747 jumbo jet weighed down third-quarter res

Airplane maker Boeing (BA-N51.74-0.15-0.29%) said Wednesday it lost $1.6-billion in its third quarter as charges from its delayed 787 and a new version of its 747 jumbo jet weighed down results. It also slashed its profit forecast for 2009.

Shares of the Chicago-based airplane maker fell $1.29, or 2.5 per cent, to $50.60 in premarket trade.

Weak demand for air travel and cargo services has undermined demand for Boeing's jetliners since the global economy deteriorated late last year. Some customers have been forced to cancel or delay plans to buy new aircraft.

But Boeing, the world's second-largest commercial plane maker after Europe's Airbus, has had its own problems, too: production setbacks have delayed its eagerly awaited 787 and 747-8 jets, resulting in hefty charges.

The company said its quarterly loss amounted to $2.23 per share. During the same period last year, Boeing earned $695-million, or 96 cents per share. A labour strike and problems with suppliers reduced year-earlier profit by 60 cents per share and revenue by an estimated $2.1-billion.

Revenue rose 9 per cent to $16.69-billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected a loss of $2.12 per share on revenue of $17.16-billion. Wall Street estimates typically exclude one-time charges.

US banks' earnings beat forecasts

Morgan Stanley said it delivered strong results in investment banking

Morgan Stanley has returned to profit after three quarterly losses in a row, with net income of $757m (£457m) in the July to September period.

Its investment banking division did well, it said, with underwriting revenues up 74% from 2008 levels.

At the same time, the country's fourth-largest bank, Wells Fargo, reported a record $3.2bn profit for the quarter.

Wells Fargo, which bought Wachovia last year, said revenues from mortgages and consumer credit had surged.

Morgan Stanley announced its results two days after agreeing to sell its retail asset management business to investment manager Invesco in a deal worth $1.5bn.

The sale of the loss-making division will allow it to focus more on its institutional clients.

Morgan Stanley's third-quarter profit followed a loss of $159m between April and June.

Wells Fargo 3Q profit rises, but so do loan losses

FILE - In this May 4, 2009 file photo, a Wells Fargo Bank in Palo Alto, Calif. is shown. Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009, its third-quarter profit nearly doubled from a year ago although it joins other big U.S. banks in reporting higher loan losses.

Paul Sakuma, file / AP Photo

• Photo

The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Wells Fargo & Co. on Wednesday reported a $2.6 billion third-quarter profit as the company's retail banking operations, including the loan business it acquired with the purchase of Wachovia Corp., offset its rising loan losses.

Shares added 11 cents to $30.57 in early trading.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo joined other big banks in reporting continuing heavy losses from failed loans. Well Fargo said credit losses climbed to $5.1 billion, or 2.5 percent of its loan portfolio. That is up from $2 billion a year ago and $4.4 billion in the second quarter.

Unlike its retail banking peers, however, Wells Fargo was profiting from it traditional banking operations, which includes the big mortgage business it took on when it bought Wachovia at the height of the credit crisis a year ago. Wells Fargo reported interest income of $5.57 billion after accounting for $6.1 billion in credit losses, which includes the loan losses and adding more money to its loan loss reserves.

The increase in loan losses follows the pattern at other top U.S. banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. Those banks' results, however, were supported by their robust trading businesses. Wells Fargo has a relatively small trading operation.

Wells Fargo also offered a more upbeat outlook than some of the other banks, saying it expects credit losses to peak in 2010, with consumer losses possibly even peaking by the first half of the year.

The nation's fourth-largest bank reported a third-quarter profit of $2.64 billion, or 56 cents per share, after paying preferred dividends, up from $1.64 billion, or 49 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 37 cents per share.

Fuel oil spill off Galveston

SOME 18,000 gallons of fuel oil from the 2003-built aframax crude tanker Krymsk have spilt about 40 miles southeast of Galveston, after the ship collided with the offshore supply vessel AET Endeavour late on Tuesday.

The US Coast Guard said the leak from the 2003-built, 115,605 dwt Krymsk has been secured, and no injuries are reported on either vessel. On-water and aerial assets have been deployed for spill response operations.

Lloyd’s Marine Intelligence Unit indicates Novorossiysk Shipping Co as the commercial and technical operator of the double-hulled Krymsk, and Sovcomflot as the beneficial owner.

The incident comes on the heels of a fuel spill on the Chemical Supplier in the Houston Ship Channel last month, which caused an oil spill of 10,500 gallons of fuel oil.

The latest casualty is likely to throw the spotlight on double hulling of fuel tanks, also known as “protectively locating” the fuel tanks.

Although International Maritime Organization standards require all newly built tankers from next year to adhere to this requirement, there is no parallel requirement to retrofit existing ships.

Both the Chemical Supplier and Krymsk are double-hulled ships.