Business Briefs

Stocks end mixed as Fed holds rates

NEW YORK -- A late-day slump left stocks mixed Wednesday as investors couldn't hold on to their optimism after the Federal Reserve gave an encouraging assessment of the economy. A House vote to speed up the effective date of limits on credit card companies took bank stocks sharply lower in the last hour of trading.

The Fed left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of essentially zero and said the economy is slowly rebounding.

The Fed also noted that housing activity has picked up in recent months. It also said consumer spending, while still constrained by unemployment and other problems, appears to be growing.

Service sector up for second month in row

NEW YORK -- The U.S. service sector grew for a second straight month in October, but at a slower pace than in September, as a broad economic recovery creeps along.

The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday that its service index dipped to 50.6 last month, from 50.9. Any reading above 50 signals growth. The index tracks the country's hospitals, retailers, financial services firms and truckers.

New orders, an augur of future activity, rose to 55.6, from 54.2 in September. Business activity also rose. Still, the decline in employment worsened. The employment tracker has contracted for 21 of the past 22 months.

Pulte Homes posts loss as it absorbs Centex

DETROIT -- Pulte Homes lost $361.4 million in the third quarter, but with the acquisition of Centex Corp., the home builder's new orders increased by more than a third.

Pulte completed its purchase of Centex in August, turning the company into the nation's largest builder. The deal gave Pulte more communities with cheaply priced homes for first-time buyers, as well as desirable land in Texas and the Carolinas, including the Charleston area.

By combining operations, Pulte now expects to save $440 million annually, $90 million more than when the deal was announced.

Comcast's profit up 22% for quarter

PHILADELPHIA -- Comcast said Wednesday that third-quarter earnings swelled 22 percent to $944 million, buoyed by an investment gain and lower tax rate as it stepped up promotions on its bundled video, phone and Internet plans.

The Charleston area's and the nation's largest cable TV operator also surpassed AT&T in the quarter as the country's biggest Internet service provider.

6 Nucor workers in Arkansas get damages

Six workers who filed a racial discrimination case against Nucor Corp.'s steel mill in Blytheville, Ark., each were awarded $200,000 in damages in U.S. District Court Tuesday.

Nucor called the award disappointing and said it will appeal. It also claimed victory, saying the award was for one issue and was less than one-tenth of what the plaintiffs had sought.

The case, in some ways, parallels a suit filed by seven black workers at Nucor's Berkeley County mill. An appeals court months ago revived the local case as a class-action lawsuit.