VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices slipped Friday on mixed interpretations of U.S. fuel stocks data. Still, perceptions that the market was undersupplied pointed to continued near-term upward pressure.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 29 cents to $76.57 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. The contract added 33 cents to settle at $76.86 a barrel Thursday.

September Brent crude dropped 15 cents to $75.61 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Analysts say energy investors are split over the meaning of Wednesday's weekly inventory report from the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. The report showed crude oil stocks declined 6.5 million barrels last week, far more than the 690,000-barrel decline analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected.

The report also showed a steep jump in refinery activity and an increase in gasoline inventories. The build in gasoline stockpiles was particularly significant in that it

TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota, on track to overtake General Motors as the world's biggest automaker this year, said Friday its April-June profit jumped 32.3 percent to a record high for a quarter, lifted by strong overseas sales and a weaker yen.

Surging gas prices have proved a big plus for the Japanese automaker, as drivers flock to Toyota's fuel-efficient models, including the Camry, the best-selling model in the U.S., and the Prius gas-electric hybrid.

"The results are fantastic," said Tsuyoshi Mochimaru, auto analyst with Lehman Brothers in Japan.

Foreign sales are going strong, and the weak yen, which raises the value of overseas earnings when converted into yen, is making rosy earnings even rosier as Toyota's exports grow, Mochimaru said.

Group net profit at Toyota, which also makes the Lexus luxury model and compact Corolla, totaled 491.54 billion yen ($4.1 billion) for the quarter through June, up

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Nokia Corp., the world's largest mobile phone maker, said Thursday that second-quarter earnings more than doubled to euro2.8 billion ($3.8 billion) on strong sales and that it had further increased its market share. Its shares rose 7 percent.

Net profit for the April-June period came to euro2.82 billion ($3.85 billion), up from euro1.14 billion in the second quarter last year, the Finnish company said. Sales rose 28 percent to euro12.6 billion ($17.22 billion) from euro9.8 billion in the year-ago period, Nokia said.

The company said it had increased its global market share to 38 percent from 34 percent in the same quarter in 2006 and from 36 percent in the first quarter. It sold 100 million mobile devices in the period, an increase of 29 percent on 2006.

Nokia's result beat expectations, with its shares surging 7 percent in Helsinki to euro22.05 ($30.13). Before the earnings

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices moved lower Thursday after a roller-coaster session the previous day during which prices hit a new intraday record, later tumbling.

The downward trend appeared linked to higher-than-expected refinery utilization, which eased worries of gasoline shortfalls during the high-demand summer driving season in the United States.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery lost 78 cents to $75.75 a barrel by noon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The contract fell $1.68 to settle at $76.53 a barrel Wednesday after rising as high as $78.77 earlier in the session -- surpassing the previous intraday record of $78.40, set in July 2006.

Prices initially climbed higher again Thursday after the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that oil inventories fell by 6.5 million barrels last week, far more than the 690,000 barrel-decline analysts

DENVER (AP) -- Qwest Communications International Inc. said Wednesday second-quarter earnings more than doubled as sharply reduced operating expenses offset weak sales.
Net income rose to $246 million, or 13 cents per share, from $117 million, or 6 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts expected 15 cents per share, according to a Thomson Financial poll.

Revenue slipped to $3.46 billion from $3.47 billion last year, slightly beneath analyst expectations of $3.47 billion.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Rupert Murdoch has sealed a deal to buy Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. for $5 billion, ending a century of family ownership and adding a crown jewel to his global media empire, News Corp.

The companies said in the wee hours of Wednesday morning that they signed a definitive merger agreement after the deal won sufficient support to pass from a deeply divided Bancroft family, which has controlled the storied newspaper publisher for generations.

Murdoch is getting one of the great trophies of U.S. journalism and a newspaper that is considered required reading among the business and power elite.

The deal will also expand Murdoch's already massive global media and entertainment empire News Corp., which owns the Fox broadcast network, Fox News Channel, the Twentieth Century Fox movie and TV studio, MySpace, newspapers in

by D.C. Fowler

Before you begin prospecting for profitable short sale opportunities you must build and develop your buyers list. If you’ve studied my course then you have enough knowledge to locate and close as many short sales as you are willing to work for, but the most important piece of the puzzle is having buyers on hand waiting to buy your short sale deals.

When people hear the word “list”, one of the first things that come to mind is that hundreds of investors with deep pockets are needed to make a buyers list. Although having a large active list would be ideal, it’s not likely for most investors nor is it necessary. Your list should include both investors and traditional home buyers. In my first 24 months as a short sale investor my buyers list consisted of just a handful of investors and traditional buyers. A few were individual investors who were interested in acquiring 7-10 rental homes each and some were investors seeking wholesale deals. In addition, I had several first time homebuyers that I sold property to at huge discounts.

Within my first 9 months, I sold 4 properties to one investor and 8 to another. I kept 6 for myself that I either held as rental property or wholesaled within 6 months of purchasing them. My days were spent finding deals that fit mine and my buyer’s needs and speaking with potential buyers that I could add to my contact list. So in reality I worked for 3 clients (my 2 investors & myself). Yes, I started doing short sales mainly for the long term investment opportunity. Buying and holding is one of the best strategies to use if you want to acquire large amounts of equity with the least amount of adversity.

by Vena Jones-Cox

With the advent of 90%-100% LAV loans on investment properties, many investors are taking the opportunity to finance or refinance their properties at a higher percentage of value than normal. Many are taking cash out at the closing, and many are choosing to pay close to retail for properties that qualify for this financing, on the theory that a no money down deal is a good deal, even if it only cash flows a little. Smart investors avoid the temptation (and the strong come-ons by mortgage brokers) to do this. Here’s why:

by Vena Jones-Cox

This one of those questions that must be answered by another question, to wit: what’s a good deal? And this is not a facetious question, because the answer depends on:

1) Your exit strategy.
2) Your financial resources.
3) Your skills.
4) Your goals.
5) The risk and hassle involved in a particular property.

So let’s say this: I’ll let you in on my favorite ways to find good deals—after I explain why they’re good deals to me.

by Ben Innes-Ker

How did you get into real estate investing? Did you read a book on it? Was it a seminar? A meeting of some sort with speakers selling courses? Did you get really, really jazzed and pumped up by these simple ("not easy") concepts that were delivered to you in parable form from the stage by a charismatic speaker? Did you find yourself levitating to the back of the room, powerless but to slap down your plastic to buy the kits that were being sold there? Like...

"Yes Mr. Ker, we do take traveler's checks. Yes, cash is okay, too. HEY BARNEY, DO YOU HAVE CHANGE FOR A HUNDRED? There's your kit Mr. Ker. Good Luck!"

I have to admit that's where I began. I attended a "conference" and dropped over a grand in two days. What I ended up with was a very funny course about Paper (i.e. discounted mortgages) and a more sober account of making a million five in eighteen months buying and rehabbing multi-units. I listened to tapes for about four days straight, then went out and bought an HP12C financial calculator.

I loved paper (the units can wait a while). I really got my head around it. I loved discounting on the calculator, I loved calculating yields. And the guy on these tapes was so funny! I spent a fun couple of weeks learning the courses and I knew more than most bankers because the guy on the tapes told me so. I wanted to get started and get a note-closing-sweatshop going just like he described. I knew this stuff inside and out. Two deals a week would be OK with me you know, I'm not greedy. Now where was it in the book that it showed how to find the deals. OK...here we go ... Look up names at the courthouse, call Accountants, call Contractors, call Attorneys......hmmm.

by Scott Rister

Do you have any mutual fund in your portfolio giving you a 1000% return on your investment? I didn't mistakenly enter the wrong figure. That is one-thousand percent and in addition what I'm talking about is for ONE month so annualized that's... well, I'll let all the bean counters figure that out. It is very attainable for that 10:1 return on your investment with prudent selection of where to place those marketing dollars that end results in truly great deals coming your way.

So many people are flocking to real estate seeking higher returns on their investments in recent years and especially since '00. Why? Well, the big fat 401K's have turned into 201K's and many people realized that really what people had banked on being there financially became all of a sudden money evaporating with every downturn of the stock market.

So, where are people now putting their money for investments? Real estate! Real estate has been a time-tested vehicle for short and long-term wealth and income and that was LONG before the .com and tech stock busts. Ok, probably nothing you don't know and haven't heard of right? So, now that we probably all know the actual and potential income for the average "Joe" through real estate the question is always "how do I get there?".