In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Survey shows Irish businesses lacking confidence

Irish business has become markedly less confident about the outlook for the Irish economy as a whole over the last three months, although their expectations for their own business have remained relatively stable, according to the latest KBC/ESRI quarterly business confidence survey.

Just over half were in favour of a tougher budget – although this was at a time when the Government was looking to cuts of €3 billion. That figure has since risen significantly.

Respondents were divided on the merits of an early election, with 27 per cent saying it would be helpful and 29 per cent concerned it would harm business sentiment. A third said it would have no significant impact, with the rest unsure.

Coca-Cola beats profit expectations

Coca-Cola Co reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, helped by volume gains in its North American and international units.

The world's largest soft drinks maker said third-quarter net income was $2.06 billion (€1.5 billion), or 88 cents per share – up from $1.90 billion, or 81 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Coca-Cola earned 92 cents per share, topping analysts' estimates of 89 cents. Revenue rose 5 per cent to $8.43 billion as worldwide volume rose 5 per cent. – Reuters

BofA posts rise in operating profits

Bank of America posted higher-than-expected quarterly operating profit as credit losses declined, the third big US bank to beat Wall Street earnings estimates.

But some analysts questioned whether BofA, the largest US bank by assets, could continue generating profits from cutting reserves for bad loans, without much growth in its core business.

BofA joined JPMorgan Chase Co and Citigroup in besting analysts' projections for the third quarter. Goldman Sachs Group also posted better-than-expected results. – (Reuters)

Yahoo forecasts weaker sales in Q4

Web portal Yahoo yesterday delivered tepid third-quarter revenue growth and forecast weaker-than-expected sales in the fourth quarter. Yahoo projected fourth-quarter revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, of $1.125 billion to $1.225 billion. Analysts were looking for revenue of $1.26 billion.

Net income in the three months ended September 30th was $396.1 million, or 29 cents a share.