IN BRIEF

DALLAS

Southwest Airlines has most profitable quarter

Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak ended, so did Cal Ripken Jr.'s string of consecutive games.

Will Southwest Airlines' mark of 69 straight profitable quarters be the next record to fall?

On Thursday, the No. 1 carrier at McCarran International Airport reported a bigger second-quarter profit than Wall Street expected, thanks again to financial deals that lowered its fuel spending.

But the whispers grew that Southwest might soon succumb to the same combination of high fuel costs and a sagging economy that has already plunged other U.S. airlines into big losses this year.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. said Thursday it earned $321 million, or 44 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30. That's up 15 percent from a year ago, when the airline earned $278 million, or 36 cents per share.

Excluding special items but including the fuel profits, Southwest earned $121 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with $278 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 12 cents per share.

Revenue rose 11.2 percent, to $2.87 billion from $2.58 billion.

Solar power project on tap for Boulder City

Sempra Generation of San Diego said Thursday that it will develop its first solar energy project, a 10-megawatt photovoltaic power generation plant in Boulder City.

Photovoltaic systems convert sunlight directly into electricity without pollution or water consumption.

First Solar of Tempe, Ariz., will be construction contractor for the project and will monitor the plant, which is scheduled for completion later this year.

The plant will be adjacent to Sempra's El Dorado Energy power plant.

WASHINGTON

Pay settlement OK'd; radio merger imminent

Approval of a merger of the nation's only two satellite radio companies was imminent Thursday after the pair agreed to pay $19.7 million to settle charges they violated federal rules.

Sirius Satellite Radio's proposed $3.6 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings has been before the Federal Communications Commission for 16 months.

The five-member commission is deadlocked at 2-2, but Republican Deborah Taylor Tate was expected to cast the deciding vote approving the deal once a consent decree outlining the enforcement action is circulated for a vote.

NEW YORK

Oil prices rebound; gasoline, gas retreat

Energy market investors managed to win back modest gains Thursday following oil's big drop a day earlier, but again drove natural gas prices sharply lower as a three-week sell-off of that fuel continued.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose $1.05 to settle at $125.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- gaining back only about a quarter of Wednesday's decline. August natural gas tumbled 46.5 cents to settle at $9.283 per 1,000 cubic feet, its lowest point since March.

At the gasoline pump, prices continued their retreat. In Las Vegas, the average price of a gallon of regular self-serve unleaded gasoline was $4.118 on Thursday, AAA said in its Daily Fuel Gauge report.

The price is down 3.7 percent from $4.277 a month ago, but up 39 percent from $2.962 a year ago, AAA said.

HARTFORD, Conn.

Trash hauler steps up effort to acquire rival

The nation's largest trash hauler on Thursday stepped up its efforts to buy a smaller rival, Republic Services.

Waste Management said it will seek to buy shares of Republic, the dominant trash hauler and recycler in the Las Vegas Valley, less than a week after its unsolicited $6.19 billion offer was rebuffed.

The cash offer from Waste Management is an attempt to break up Republic's agreement to pay $6.07 billion in stock for another trash hauler, Allied Waste Industries.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Republic said last week that Waste Management's offer of $34 a share undervalues the company.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices rise on home-sales news

Treasury prices rose Thursday after the National Association of Realtors said that sales of previously owned homes fell in June to the lowest level in a decade.

In late trading, the 10-year Treasury note rose 0.94 points to 98.97. Its yield fell to 4.00 percent from 4.12 percent on Wednesday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Yields move in the opposite direction from prices.

The 30-year long bond rose 1.06 points to 96.31. Its yield fell to 4.60 percent from 4.68 percent Wednesday.