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Markets rise Thursday

NEW YORK, July 16 (UPI) -- U.S. markets made late gains Thursday, completing a streak of four days with positive numbers.

JP Morgan Chase said second quarter net profits rose 36 percent. The report follows news that profits soared at Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter.

By close, the Dow Jones industrial average added 95.61 points or 1.11 percent to 8,711.82. The Standard & Poor's 500 gained 8.06 or 0.86 percent to 940.74. The Nasdaq composite index rose 1.19 percent, 22.13 points, to 1,885.03.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,113 stocks advanced and 881 declined on a volume of 1.1 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 10/32 to yield 3.57 percent.

The euro rose to $1.4151 Thursday, compared to Wednesday's $1.4107. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell to 93.92 yen, compared to Wednesday's 94.35 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average added 74.91 points, 0.81 percent, to 9,344.16.

In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 0.35 percent, 15.38, to 4,361.84.

Paulson chastised over Merrill Lynch deal

WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- Congressional leaders chastised former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. for his role in pressuring Bank of America to purchase Merrill Lynch.

Several members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said Thursday Paulson misled Congress in previous explanations of the deal, which resulted in an additional $20 billion bailout for Bank of America, which purchased the ailing Merrill Lynch in the first week of the year.

"While all this was going on, the American people, investors and Congress were kept in the dark," Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. told Paulson, The New York Times reported.

"What the taxpayer got was an averted calamity," Paulson said.

In a prepared statement, Paulson said he pressured Bank of America to purchase Merrill Lynch, as no deal would have been "unthinkable."

The controversy arose when Bank of America's Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis testified regulators threatened to remove bank executives from their jobs if the deal did not go through, The Washington Post reported.

Lewis said escalating losses at Merrill Lynch had him pause on a deal the bank had studied for months.

Paulson, however, makes no bones about threatening jobs at the bank. Canceling the deal threatened the greater financial system and had "no legal basis," Paulson said.

Harley-Davidson to slow down and cut jobs

MILWAUKEE, July 16 (UPI) -- U.S. motorcycle icon Harley-Davidson said it would temporarily shutter production lines and cut 1,000 jobs as the recession has cut into sales.

The company said it would close its powertrain production facility in Wauwatosa, Wis., and its Harley V-Rod and Sportster facilities in Kansas City, Mo., for 14 weeks later this year.

Harley's second quarter earnings fell from $222.8 million in the second quarter of 2008 to $19.8 million in this year's second quarter, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday.

Revenue fell 27 percent to $1.15 billion.

About 700 job cuts would come from hourly positions, the company said. In a previous workforce reduction this year, Harley said it would eliminate as many as 1,500 hourly jobs.

Donald Trump libel case dismissed

CAMDEN, N.J., July 16 (UPI) -- A New Jersey judge said Donald Trump failed to convince her an author's estimate of his net worth at under $250 million was done out of malice.

Author Timothy O'Brien's book, "Trump Nation: The Art of Being Donald," estimated Trump was worth between $150 million and $250 million, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Trump sued, asking for $5 billion in damages. Publicly, Trump has claimed his is worth a far greater than a quarter of a billion dollars.

Superior Court Judge Michele Fox in Camden, N.J., dismissed the case, saying Trump did not present "clear and convincing evidence to establish malice."

Trump complained that "the libel laws in this country have never been fair. We proved our case 100 percent."

He said he would appeal.

O'Brien, an editor at the Sunday Business Section of the New York Times said he was "gratified that the court's decision has vindicated the reporting in 'Trump Nation.'"