Earnings roundup: Merrill Lynch, Nucor

Among the earnings stories for Thursday, Oct. 16, from AP Financial News:

Top stories:

NEW YORK (AP) _ Investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. said Thursday its third-quarter loss widened as it took more than $12 billion in charges and write-downs tied to the sale of mortgage investments and fallout from the continued credit crisis.

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Steel maker Nucor Corp. says its third-quarter earnings nearly doubled, helped by higher sales from recently acquired steel companies.

Other stories:

VAN BUREN, Ark. (AP) _ USA Truck Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings skyrocketed and surpassed Wall Street's expectations, on a jump in fuel surcharge revenue and a comparison to a year-ago period weighed down by a hefty legal expense.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Media General Inc. said Thursday that third-quarter profit more than doubled despite weak advertising sales at its newspapers and television stations largely because of an infusion of ads from the Olympics and the presidential campaigns.

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Peabody Energy Corp. reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, as it benefited from strong global demand and higher prices in all regions.

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ PNC Financial Services Group Inc. on Thursday said its third-quarter profit fell 39 percent as it increased the amount it set aside to cover bad loans, and the number of loans in arrears rose.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. shot up more than 9 percent in premarket trading Thursday after the insurer released earnings that met expectations and offered some reassurance to Wall Street.

DALLAS (AP) _ Southwest Airlines Co. lost money for the first time in 17 years as falling oil prices forced the company to write down the value of its fabled fuel-hedging transactions in the third quarter.