At The Motley Fool, we know our readers like to be informed. We have scouted out today's most relevant news items and brought them to you all in one page. We hope you find this midday edition informative and useful.

SEC not buying into Groupon
With weeks before it hits the market, Groupon is facing tough questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency is asking the company to explain some of its never-before-seen accounting metrics. In its regulatory filings, Groupon highlighted a measure called "adjusted consolidated segment operating income." Experts say this method draws attention away from marketing costs, the company's biggest expenditure.

With a new trend of unprofitable tech IPOs, the SEC worries that another tech bubble is brewing. Internet radio company Pandora Media debuted on the market despite big losses, citing new measures such as total listener hours and total registered users as key metrics of growth. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Credit Suisse slashing 2,000 jobs
After a disappointing second quarter with a $958 million decrease in net income, Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) said it will cut 2,000 jobs to reduce costs. The bank had added 1,500 jobs over the past 12 months. The cuts will be complete by the end of 2012. The bank's pre-tax profit fell by 71% as the European debt crisis depressed bond trading.

Credit Suisse's earnings report came days after UBS (NYSE: UBS) announced that it would miss its profit estimates for 2014 (a five-year profit estimate made in 2009) after a similar drop in the bank's income, showing that the debt crisis hurt even Europe's strongest banks. Read more at Dealbook.

Slams dunk Dunkin Brands
With an IPO based on pastries, ice cream, and coffee, Dunkin' Brands (Nasdaq: DNKN), owner of Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, opened with a bang. The company's stock opened at a higher-than-expected $19 per share, but soared 46.6% to close at $27.85 -- for a whopping $3.5 billion valuation.

Dunkin' Brands, which makes its money mainly through franchising, has the potential to grow in the West, where it has only 109 outlets; competitors Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) already have thousands of locations there. The company announced that it could open 250 new stores in the region. Read more at The New York Times.

Jobless claims drop to three-month low
Jobless claims in the U.S. fell to their lowest point in three months, to 398,000 in the week ended July 23. The number was lower than forecasted, but there were no specific factors associated with the drop except for the usual volatility. Though the lower number seems encouraging, higher rates of hiring will be crucial to lower unemployment, which will probably continue to hover around 9%.

In addition, major companies have announced layoffs, including Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), the world's largest defense company, which will be reducing its workforce by 6,500 employees. Read more at Bloomberg.

Shell and Exxon report strong earnings
Oil companies ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and Shell reported strong net profit of $10.68 billion and $8.66 billion, respectively. For both companies, rising oil prices were an advantage while they continue to prefer it over gas. Exxon also repurchased 67 million shares of its common stock. Shell was helped by the first-time contributions of new projects in Canada and Qatar. Read more at The Wall Street Journal (Exxon and Shell).

So there you have it -- the top financial stories for this afternoon. Check Fool.com throughout the day for commentary on these and other stories. Also, follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, or through our email digests.