Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE: chart) said second-quarter net income rose 1.8% to $339 million, or 71 cents a share, from $333 million, or 70 cents a share a year ago. Revenue jumped 6% to $5.5 billion. Earnings per share totaled 57 cents after adjustments. The bottling company expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.27 to $1.32 a share, excluding restructuring costs and favorable tax items.

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (ETH: chart), home furnishings retailer, said fiscal fourth-quarter income increased to $22.4 million, or 66 cents a share, from $19.5 million, or 56 cents, a year earlier. Sales for the quarter climbed to $272 million from $242.3 million last year. For fiscal 2007 the company expects earnings per share to grow in the range of 10% to 12%.

Southern Co. (SO: chart) said that its second-quarter net income fell to $385.2 million, or 52 cents a share, from $386.8 million, or 52 cents, a year ago. Revenue advanced 15% to $3.59 billion from $3.12 billion reported in the prior-year comparable period.


[R]8:00AM Oil prices slightly advanced.[/R]
Crude oil prices slightly advanced Thursday, with traders keeping an eye on Middle East developments. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 14 cents to $74.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the Nymex, after closing slightly higher after U.S. government data showed a large drop in gasoline supplies. September Brent on London''s ICE Futures exchange gained 10 cents to $74.10 a barrel. In other Nymex trading Thursday, gasoline futures fell 0.72 cents to $2.2890 a gallon and natural gas futures were up 10.4 cents to $6.991 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil futures rose slightly to $1.96 a gallon.

In its weekly petroleum report Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Department said summer gasoline demand in the U.S. was almost 2% higher than last year despite $3-a-gallon pump prices. Gasoline inventories fell last week by 3.2 million barrels to 211 million barrels, just 500,000 barrels more than last year. Over the past four weeks, average U.S. gasoline demand was 9.6 million barrels a day, or 1.8% higher than last year.

Prices have fluctuated rather mildly this week as traders watched to see whether the violence would affect other countries in the oil-rich market. Oil prices hit a record $78.40 high on July 14, two days after fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, on fears that the violence would escalate into a regional war and disrupt supplies, particularly from Iran.