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PROVIDENCE – Textron Inc. said its profit grew in the second quarter to $90 million from $82 million a year earlier.

Earnings per share for the diversified manufacturer were 29 cents per diluted share for the three months ended July 2, a 7.4 percent gain from 27 cents per diluted share from a year earlier.

“Second-quarter results benefited from good execution and cost performance at Bell and Industrial,” said Textron Chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly. “Cessna returned to an operating profit, driven primarily by higher delivery and aftermarket volumes compared to the first quarter.”

“The demand environment for commercial aircraft remained stable. Given current levels of customer interest and order activity, we expect a significant pick-up in demand in the second half of the year, similar to what we saw last year,” said Donnelly.

Reven

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PROVIDENCE – Following a respite earlier in the summer, gasoline prices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts have risen for the second consecutive week.

According to AAA Southern New England, on July 18, the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular at Ocean State stations was $3.83 per gallon, up 7 cents from a week earlier, and $3.72 in Massachusetts, up 5 cents.

The national average was $3.68. In Rhode Island, prices ranged from $3.66 to $3.90 on Monday; a year ago, gasoline was $2.74.

According to Bloomberg News, oil fell in Monday trading as investors bet that Europe’s worsening debt crisis may slow the economy and crimp fuel demand, and as the euro tumbled the most in a week against the dollar.

Futures dropped as much as 2.5 percent on speculation that European leaders won’t agree on a way to contain the region’s debt crisis at a summit this week.

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Nineteen cities are issuing housing permits at twice or more the rate per population as the rest of the country. Five cities are in Texas, with two more just over the border in Louisiana and Arkansas and six in the Carolinas and one just over the border in Georgia. The list also includes Des Moines and Omaha, close together in the central plains plus Nashville, Provo and Bradenton-Sarasota.

All of these cities are attracting new workers and businesses because of their low cost for both workers and business. Each of them has positive net immigration from elsewhere in the US in recent years through 2009 which likely is continuing. Also, each of these cities, except Bradenton-Sarasota had a relatively mild housing recession. Home price declines were very low because there was very little price surge in 2004-06.

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LIVERPOOL-BASED Venmore will hold its next property auction in the city next week, with 56 lots going under the hammer.

The firm, which has been confirmed as headline sponsor at this year’s Merseyside Landlord Expo, in September, will hold its event at the Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, July 20.

Venmore says there has been a “high level” of interest in the properties prior to the auction.

They are spread across Merseyside from Wallasey in Wirral, to Newton-Le-Willows and St Helens.

Nick Ball, head of auctions at Venmore, said: “This month’s auction really does have a great variety of opportunities to suit everyone’s budget. On one end

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According to a BusinessWeek report, Crystal Parsons doesn’t try on clothes when she shops. She hasn’t worn a dress in 20 years. But one day this spring, she found herself in the unavoidable position of having to try on dresses because she needs a wedding gown. “I’ve had nightmares that I’m going to get stuck in a very expensive dress,” Parsons says in the fitting room at Kleinfeld bridal salon in New York. She’s filming an episode of TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss, which documents plus-size women in the once-demoralizing hunt for the perfect wedding gown. “I tend to think negatively about myself,” she says. “My weight has always been my problem.”

While the average clothing size of women in the U.S. is 14, most high-end bridal designers have long refused to cater to clients beyond size 16. Yet with the economy pr Full Article…

WATERBURY, Conn. – Webster Financial Corp. on Friday said its second-quarter profit nearly doubled compared with the year-earlier period as the bank cut back on the money it set aside for anticipated bad loans.

For the quarter ended June 30, the company – New England’s largest independent bank and the parent of Webster Bank N.A. – posted $34.21 million in earnings, 94 percent higher than the $17.64 million profit in the same period in 2010.

The company’s earnings per diluted share totaled 36 cents, beating by one cent the profit forecast by a consensus of analysts who cover the bank, according to Yahoo!Finance .

The improved earnings came despite a decline in revenue. Webster r

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