Wal-Mart, Target profits up during second quarter

Despite lackluster sales this summer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. offered upbeat outlooks on consumer spending Thursday as they reported higher second-quarter results.

Wal-Mart’s profit increased 8.6 percent and beat Wall Street projections by a penny per share. The company also raised its earnings forecast for the year and said sales should pick up this fall. Target saw its profits almost quadruple due to a one-time gain from the sale of its Marshall Field’s department stores.

Above, back-to-school shoppers crowd an aisle Thursday at the Wal-Mart in Fenton, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo.

Interstate Bakeries shares sharply lower

Stock in Interstate Bakeries Corp. dropped 16 percent Thursday after the maker of Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies restructured its loan agreements, which required boosting the debt’s interest rate and temporarily ending the payment of dividends.

Shares of the Kansas City, Mo.-based baker closed at $7.50, down $1.48 a share, in trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Interstate Bakeries said the changes would last through the first quarter of fiscal year 2006 and would give the struggling company more flexibility.

Real estate

Mortgage rates fall

Rates on 30-year mortgages dipped to the lowest level in nearly four months this week, providing more support for the booming housing market.

Freddie Mac, in its weekly nationwide survey, said Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 5.85 percent this week. That’s down from the average rate of 5.99 percent last week and is the lowest level for 30-year mortgages since early April.

The new survey showed that rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages also declined this week to 5.24 percent, down from 5.40 percent last week.