Sales Fell

Riding high on its image as a leader in fuel efficiency, Toyota Motor Corp. surpassed Ford Motor Co. in July to become, for the first time, the No. 2 auto retailer in the United States. Piling on the insult, Asian automakers collectively posted their best showing ever, grabbing 41.4 percent of the U.S. passenger vehicle market in July, while the American car companies' collective market share dropped to a record low 52 percent. "Look at the trend over the past four years, and if you assume that all else remains the same, we believe Japanese automakers will be outselling domestics in the U.S. by 2014," said analyst Jesse Toprak of online automotive information provider Edmunds.

The nation's long housing boom appears to be losing steam. Sales of existing homes fell more than expected in July and prices were virtually flat compared with the previous month, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday. Perhaps most significant, the price of condominiums, which have recently attracted a growing number of speculators looking to cash in on the boom, fell for the second straight month, while the number of condos on the market rose sharply. "We could very much be close to the peak at this time," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's capital markets group.

Home sales in the Baltimore area surged at a frenzied pace in September as homebuyers rushed to lock in some of the lowest mortgage rates in decades, data released yesterday show. Sales in Baltimore and its five surrounding counties rose 27.13 percent to 3,679 homes, compared with September 2002, according to figures compiled by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. of Rockville. The listing service also found that average sale prices increased 10.34 percent to $210,300. Housing has been one of the most consistent bright spots in a lackluster economy during the past three years as buyers, wary of a sinking stock market, sought a safe refuge for their money.

DETROIT - General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit, the largest U.S. automakers, reported yesterday that vehicles sales fell last month, led by a drop in passenger cars. GM sales fell 0.5 percent, Ford sales dropped 12 percent, and Chrysler sales declined 6.4 percent. Car sales fell 8.1 percent at GM, 25 percent at Ford and 29 percent at Chrysler. Cars are "the Achilles' heel of our lineup right now," George Pipas, Ford sales analyst, told analysts in a conference call.

DETROIT - General Motors Corp.'s U.S. auto sales rose 1.5 percent last month from a year earlier and Ford Motor Co.'s were unchanged as the largest U.S. automakers fell short of analyst forecasts while boosting incentive spending from May. DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit, third-biggest in the United States, rose 6.3 percent, more than analysts expected. Toyota Motor Corp. reported an 11 percent increase and Nissan Motor Co. said its sales gained 22 percent, as the Japanese automakers spent less than U.S.-based rivals on incentives.

NEW YORK - U.S. Treasuries surged yesterday, driving benchmark 10-year note yields to a 45-year low, as a report showing that retail sales slumped last month heightened investors' expectations that inflation will slow. The 10-year note yield - the benchmark bankers use to set mortgage rates - fell to 3.5 percent, the lowest since 1958 for a government bond with 10 years to maturity. Some traders bought the notes to lock in yesterday's yields as a bet that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to ward off "an unwelcome substantial fall" in the inflation rate, which policy-makers say would deepen an economic slump.

NEW YORK - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. had a second straight quarterly net loss and said it will be unprofitable again this period as a federal probe of alleged insider trading by its founder discourages advertisers. The company said yesterday that its first-quarter net loss widened to $4.51 million, or 9 cents a share, from $234,000, or break even, a year earlier. Sales fell 15 percent to $58 million from $68 million, the biggest decline since the company sold shares to the public in 1999.

OAK BROOK, Ill. - McDonald's Corp., the world's largest hamburger chain, announced yesterday that first-quarter profit increased as sales rose at the fastest pace in more than a year, helped by the strengthening of the euro. The company's shares rose $1.12, or 7 percent, to a three-month high of $16.93 as McDonald's rebounded from its first-ever loss in the fourth quarter of last year. McDonald's said it's "on its way" toward meeting Chief Executive Officer James R. "Jim" Cantalupo's 2005 goal of boosting restaurant sales by as much as 5 percent a year.

MURRAY HILL, N.J. - Lucent Technologies Inc., the largest U.S. telephone equipment maker, said yesterday that its second-quarter net loss narrowed to $351 million as costs fell. Sales tumbled 32 percent. The net loss, Lucent's 12th straight, was 14 cents a share, compared with $495 million, or 16 cents, in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell to $2.40 billion from $3.52 billion. Chief Executive Officer Patricia F. Russo said sales might decline more than forecast in fiscal 2003. She said Lucent still plans to return to profitability this year, excluding certain expenses, as the company pares spending.

Existing-home sales in the Baltimore metropolitan area rose 4.3 percent last month compared with March 2002 and the average sales price increased 9.09 percent as housing continues to help prop up the local economy. Sales in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties rose to 3,032 homes in March compared with 2,907 in the corresponding month last year, according to figures released yesterday by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., the Rockville listing company used by agents and brokers.