UPDATE 1-Huntington Bancshares 1st-qtr profit falls

(Reuters) - Huntington, which has branches in struggling Detroit-area and northern Ohio markets, warned it expects weakness in housing and in the auto industry to continue weighing on the economy this year. It also expressed confidence it would continue to boost earnings.

The bank expects to earn $1.84 to $1.89 a share this year, excluding merger-related charges and any profit boost from its pending takeover of Sky Financial Group. On that basis, analysts polled by Reuters expect Huntington to earn $1.83 a share.


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UPDATE 1-Harley-Davidson profit, sales hit by strike

(Reuters) - The U.S. motorcycle maker reported a first-quarter profit of $192.3 million, or 74 cents a share, compared with $234.6 million, or 86 cents a share, last year.

Sales fell 8.3 percent to $1.18 billion.


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Quest Diagnostics profit falls

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, April 19 - Quest Diagnostics Inc. on Thursday posted a drop in quarterly profit and missed Wall Street estimates as the biggest U.S. lab testing company reels from the loss of a big insurance contract to a rival.

First-quarter net income fell to $105.9 million, or 54 cents per share, from $144.6 million, or 72 cents a share, a year earlier.


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Robusta Coffee May Decline Amid Speculation Rally in London Was Overdone

(Bloomberg) -- Robusta coffee may snap two days of gains in London on speculation that technical indicators show the rally was overdone.

Coffee's 14-day relative strength index, a chart used by traders to measure the momentum of price movements, rose to 64.1, from 63.7 yesterday. A reading of about 70 typically signals prices will decline. That may override the impact of lower shipments from Vietnam, the world's biggest producer of the bitter-tasting beans.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

UPDATE 1-Southwest Airlines posts higher earnings

(Reuters) - Following the release of the numbers, Chief Executive Gary Kelly played down talk that the airline was a leveraged buyout candidate.

Southwest shares rose sharply on Wednesday after Roger King, an airline analyst with CreditSights, said in a report that a $15 billion Southwest leveraged buyout was a "no-brainer."


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JMP Group sets 7.92 mln share IPO, $10.50-$12.50

(Reuters) - JMP Securities, Merrill Lynch & Co., and Keefe Bruyette & Woods are underwriting the IPO.

JMP Group operates its business through two subsidiaries, JMP Securities LLC and JMP Asset Management LLC.


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AMC Entertainment sets IPO at 39.5 million shares

(Reuters) - For the year ended March 30, 2006, the company reported a net loss of $216.2 million on $1.69 billion in revenue.

As of December 28, AMC owned, operated or held interests in 382 theaters with a total of 5,340 screens, about 87 percent of which were located in the United States and Canada.


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