Wire/staff reports

WASHINGTON - Factory orders for costly manufactured goods in July recorded the biggest gain in four months. New-homes sales, meanwhile, slid, according to a pair of reports that offered a mixed picture of economic activity.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for durable goods - big-ticket items expected to last at least three years - rose 1.7 percent in July from the previous month. Helping was a stronger demand for airplanes, machinery and communications equipment.

The largest increase since March followed a 1.1 percent gain in June. July's showing was better than the 1 percent rise that some economists were forecasting.

Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the durables report offered "solid evidence that the manufacturing recovery is on track."

A second report from the department showed that sales of new homes declined by a sharp 6.4 percent in July from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.13 million units. The decline, steeper than analysts expected, left home sales at their lowest level since December.

Airlines ask U.S. action on fuel prices

U.S. airline chief executives called on Congress to hold hearings on "soaring" fuel prices and said the government should consider releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to increase supply.

"We are convinced that the only thing that will stop the wild increase in prices is fear by the speculators that the U.S. government is ready to step in," 18 industry chief executives said in a letter to Senate and House committees.

Airlines will pay $6 billion more than last year for fuel at today's prices, even though the cost of production hasn't changed "measurably," they said in a letter. "Somewhere in the distribution process someone is making extraordinary profits."

Indy-based airline denies pullout rumor

INDIANAPOLIS - Financially struggling ATA Airlines is downplaying talk that it might pull out of Chicago's Midway Airport.

The Indianapolis-based low-fare airline is the airport's largest carrier, and ATA Chairman George Mikelsons said the airline plans to stay.

ATA has 14 gates at Midway, with flights from the airport accounting for two-thirds of ATA's scheduled passenger traffic.

Car ad sends wrong message, GM told

DETROIT - General Motors pulled a Corvette ad that shows a young boy driving wildly through city streets after safety advocates complained, the company said Wednesday.

Auto safety groups sent a letter Tuesday to GM chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner protesting the television ad, saying it sent a dangerous message. The ad had been running during the Olympics.

$60M available to new home buyers

There is $60 million in financing available to help first-time buyers purchase homes. The mortgage financing, which is being offered to qualified home buyers by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, is expected to help more than 600 individuals buy homes. For more details, call 1-888-643-2636 or visit the agency's Web site at www.homebuyerohio.com.

Acquisition helps Smucker earnings

ORRVILLE, Ohio - The recent addition of International Multifoods Corp., which added $75.5 million in sales, drove a 27 percent increase of earnings for the J.M. Smucker Co. in its first quarter compared with a year ago.

The company Wednesday reported earnings of $32.8 million or 60 cents per share, in the quarter ended July 31, up from $25.8 million, or 51 cents per share, a year ago.

Smucker's $500 million deal for Minneapolis-based International Multifoods, which brought the Pillsbury Doughboy into its well known group of branded food products, was completed June 18. The agreement called for Multifoods shareholders to get $25 per share in a combination of 80 percent Smucker stock and 20 percent cash. The deal called for assuming about $340 million of Multifoods' debt.