Wal-Mart (WMT) shares climbed 3% Thursday after the giant retailer surprised Wall Street by boosting its earnings estimate for the third quarter, despite tepid sales.

The Bentonville, Ark., company said it now expects to make 68 cents to 69 cents a share for the quarter, up from its previous forecast of 62 cents to 65 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 63 cents a share.

The company said it had improved expense controls at its Wal-Mart Stores division, which expanded profit margins. That helped offset relatively meager sales growth.

Wal-Mart said same-store sales rose 1.4% from a year ago in September, at the lower end of its forecast for a 1% to 3% rise. Analysts expected a 1.8% increase in same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year.

Sales in established Wal-Mart stores inched up 0.8%, and those at warehouse-club operator Sam's Club jumped 4.4%.

"Overall, apparel and home remain soft. Company research reinforces that customers remain concerned about their finances, especially the cost of living," Wal-Mart said. "In addition, unseasonably warmer weather in much of the country, coupled with tighter consumer spending, negatively impacted key seasonal categories."

The report came as many retailers reported sluggish sales for September, including Wal-Mart rival Target (TGT) and department-store chains like J.C. Penney (JCP) and Macy's (M) . While several chains attributed the drop to warmer-than-average weather, the companies are also dealing with inventory missteps and the threat of tighter consumer spending.

"The market is virtually eliminating any Fed move on Oct. 31, due to the Fed minutes," said Tom di Galoma, fixed income analyst at Jefferies & Co. "This has the bears in control." The view that the Fed is on hold sparked heavy overseas selling of Treasurys and Japanese government bonds that continued into the U.S. session.

The stock market had its own interpretation of the Fed minutes, zeroing in on the fact that Fed policy makers were very worried about the rapid deterioration of the credit markets last summer. The Fed cut rates by a half percentage point at its Sept. 18 meeting and equities investors appear to think the bank could order another rate cut at its October meeting. Stocks were a bit lower Wednesday, after rallying sharply Tuesday on the minutes.

Sales at Ford fell 18.2 percent in September, closing out its 2007 model year on a disappointing note, and analysts say the carmaker's immediate future does not look much brighter. Its biggest new product, the Edge, is already on sale, and its most critical redesign, the F-series pickup, is still a year away from arriving at dealerships.

The Edge, a crossover vehicle that executives said would lead Ford through its turnaround, has surpassed expectations, but almost everything else seems to be coming up short. The chief sales analyst at Ford, George Pipas, said September sales fell short of targets in the company's overhaul plan, known as "the way forward."

"We're not where we want to be," Pipas said Tuesday. But he insisted that the shortfall "doesn't throw us off track for the full year."

Ford's sales have been down every month this year, largely because of planned cutbacks in deliveries to rental car companies. But sales at dealerships have fallen off, too, raising questions about whether the carmaker needs to speed up its turnaround.

"Their market share levels are disappointing," said Bruce Clark, an analyst with Moody's Investors Service in New York. "2008 is going to be challenging from an operating standpoint, and their cash burn will not be inconsequential."

September sales of the Ford Taurus sedan, which Ford introduced this summer with high expectations, were 30 percent lower than those of its predecessor, the Five Hundred. And sales of Ford's sport-utility vehicles have fallen so sharply that the Edge outsold them all last month.

Yet the Edge is not winning many new customers for Ford, because nine out of 10 vehicles most commonly traded in for it are other Ford models, said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis at the Power Information Network of J.D. Power and Associates.

Ford is preparing to resume contract talks this week with the UAW, which reached a tentative deal with GM last week after a two-day nationwide strike. The deal, which workers are voting on through Oct. 10, is expected to make GM significantly more competitive with foreign manufacturers like Toyota and Honda.

But as details of the GM deal continue to emerge, analysts are increasingly concerned that a similar deal may not go far enough to help Ford and, to a lesser extent, Chrysler.

GM is in a much healthier position than Ford, Libby said, as September sales illustrated. GM's sales rose 4.5 percent, and its market share jumped to 25.3 percent, from 24.4 percent a year ago, according to the Autodata Corp., an industry statistics firm. Ford's market share fell to 13.3 percent, from 16.5 percent.

The announcements are the latest from a lengthening queue of banks who have taken hits from a meltdown in U.S. subprime mortgages, which has set off a global liquidity crisis.

UBS said it would write down a net 4 billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion) in its fixed-income portfolio and elsewhere, resulting in a third-quarter loss of 600 million to 800 million francs, its first quarterly loss in nine years.

UBS also said it would shed 1,500 jobs in its investment bank -- a sharp reversal of its recent buildup.

Citigroup, the world's largest bank by market value, said it was expecting a fall of about 60 percent in third-quarter net income.

Among the main culprits for the profit warning were $1.4 billion in pretax writedowns on funded and unfunded leveraged loan commitments.  

Qualcomm had been looking to fill the general counsel post, the top in-house company lawyer, after previous top lawyer Lou Lupin quit last month. The San Diego-based company, ensnarled in patent litigation with Nokia Oyj and competitor Broadcom Corp., suffered several litigation setbacks earlier this year.

In June, the International Trade Commission ordered an import ban on newer models of phones that run on Qualcomm chips because the chips infringe a Broadcom patent. The ruling, which threatened to prevent phone companies from introducing new models for the holiday season, was put on hold earlier this month by an appeals court.

In August, a federal judge ruled Qualcomm intentionally infringed Irvine, California-based Broadcom's patents and ordered Qualcomm to pay twice as much in damages as originally ordered.

Evidence

Another court ruled Qualcomm withheld evidence in a separate lawsuit and that former company attorneys could face possible fines or sanctions for what that judge called an "organized program of litigation misconduct."

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court revived a Broadcom antitrust lawsuit accusing Qualcomm of stifling competition for chips.

Qualcomm is also embroiled in nearly a dozen legal battles with Finland-based Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, over how much Nokia must pay to license Qualcomm's patents for the newest generation of phones with faster Internet access.

Earlier this month, the ITC said it would investigate patent-infringement claims by Nokia against Qualcomm.

After Lupin resigned in August for what Qualcomm called "personal" reasons, Carol Lam, previously the San Diego U.S. attorney, replaced him on an interim basis.

Apple

Rosenberg, 56, joins Qualcomm after working at Cupertino, California-based Apple for less than a year. He joined Apple last November after former General Counsel Nancy Heinen left in May 2006. She was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for her alleged role in improperly backdating stock-option grants.

Rosenberg, who will join Qualcomm Oct. 8, was previously general counsel at International Business Machines Corp.

Rosenberg will be replaced by Oracle's Cooperman, who will also hold the titles of senior vice president and secretary. Cooperman joined Apple Nov. 1 from Oracle.

"He has experience as a legal strategist in so many areas, including antitrust, regulatory and IP," said Qualcomm spokeswoman Emily Kilpatrick.

Apple spokeswoman Susan Lundgren declined to comment. Oracle's Bob Wynne didn't return a call seeking comment.

Texas Instruments Inc. is the biggest mobile-phone chipmaker.

Qualcomm shares rose 3 cents to $42.26 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.