McDonald’s profits fall

New salads helped McDonald’s Corp. serve up significantly stronger U.S. sales in the second quarter, but profits announced Tuesday fell 5 percent on spotty results from its restaurants in Europe and Asia.

Despite the biggest quarterly jump since 1998 in sales from established U.S. McDonald’s-brand restaurants, the disappointing results overseas kept talk of a long-sought turnaround on hold.

Telecommunications

Sprint PCS shares drop

Shares in Sprint PCS, the wireless arm of Overland Park-based Sprint Corp., were down as much as 8 percent Tuesday after an earnings report analysts saw as good — but not good enough.

Analysts were pleased the company Tuesday reported a narrower-than-expected second-quarter loss and an increase in revenue per unit, but concerned that subscriber acquisition and retention costs jumped.

In recent trading, PCS was off 36 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $6.26, while its larger sister company, the Sprint FON Group, was off 34 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $14.85 a share after reporting that earnings and revenue dropped about 8 percent during the June quarter.

Natural gas

Williams settles charges

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday said Williams Cos. Inc. will pay $20 million to settle charges it attempted to manipulate natural gas prices by giving bogus data to index publishers.

The settlement covers Williams’ natural gas trading from January 2000 through June 2002, the commission said in a news release.

Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams has pipeline operations in the Lawrence area.

Home furnishings

Pier I lowers forecast

Pier 1 Imports Inc. lowered its fiscal second-quarter earnings target slightly due to softer-than-expected same-store sales.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based home-furnishings retailer said late Tuesday it expected earnings for the quarter ending Aug. 30 from 20 cents to 23 cents a share on a 3 percent to 5 percent drop in same-store sales.

The company, which has a store in Lawrence, is slated to release its fiscal second-quarter results Sept. 16.