earnings season

The Royal Bank of Scotland posted first-half losses Friday that weren't nearly as bad as some analysts had feared, rounding out what is shaping up to be a relatively bright earnings season for Europe's biggest financial institutions.

The good news in the stock market today is the continued drop in oil prices, with a barrel of sweet, light crude dipping below $125 for the first time since June.

Already, commuters are seeing that decline priced in at the pump, with a gallon of gasoline falling below $4.00 per gallon – in some areas to $3.70 per gallon – as demand slows and prices drop.

At the same time, the earnings season has been better than a lot of people expected. IBM, Apple, AT&T have led a tech charge in better-than-expected revenues in the last quarter, even though the bean counters have done a great job of...

Alcoa talking with Chinalco on boosting cooperation; Advanced Micro Devices: 1Q revenue falls to $1.5 billion; Analysts predicted sales of $1.63 billion; Cutting 10% of jobs; Analysis by Ashok Kumar of CRT ... via ClipSyndicate