Stocks finish higher

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks gained ground in the latest session.

The rally came amid a continued decline in oil prices and further recovery in financial stocks.

The Dow added nearly 30 points to 11,632.

The S&P rose 5 points to 1,282. And the Nasdaq composite surged nearly 22 points to 2,325.

Investors today will be awaiting a pair of economic reports, covering new claims for unemployment benefits and existing home sales for June.

Oil tumbles nearly $4 in New York

NEW YORK (AP) -- This should be music to the ears of anyone paying to fill up their gas tank. Oil prices fell nearly $4 a barrel yesterday in New York after the Energy Department said gasoline supplies had swelled more than expected over the previous week.

Crude, trading below $125 a barrel, is back to its lowest level since early June. And a growing number of analysts think it could go lower still, as consumers cut back on consumption.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped $3.98 to settle at $124.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The August contract expired Tuesday at $127.95.

The government also said that demand for gas over the past month was about 2 and a-half percent lower when compared to a year ago.

Oil prices are holding steady in Asian trading. A barrel of crude was down 15 cents to $124.59 a barrel by midafternoon in Singapore.

House approves rescue bill

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Next stop is the Senate for legislation to give the housing sector a lift.

By a vote of 272-152, the House passed legislation that aims to help 400,000 homeowners facing foreclosure, while supporting mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The measure is on track to pass the Senate and become law within days. President Bush dropped his opposition hours before the House gave its approval.

The White House had been opposed to nearly 4 billion dollars in grants for devastated neighborhoods.

Tests of small trucks said "disappointing"

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- A new round of testing finds that small pickups generally aren't as safe as cars and SUV's in side crash tests. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds that of five small pickups tested, only the Toyota Tacoma earned the highest rating of "good". The Dodge Dakota, Ford Ranger and Nissan Frontier were given the rating of "marginal." The Chevrolet Colorado was rated "poor" in the side impact collision testing.

The Institute's president Adrian Lund says consumer need to be careful if they're looking to downsize to small pickups because of high gasoline prices. Small pickups have the highest death rates of all vehicles on the road. Consumers are advised to buy vehicles with airbags providing protection in side crashes.

Nokia, Qualcomm settle long-running dispute

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Nokia and Qualcomm say they've agreed to settle a high-stakes licensing dispute and end a bitter legal battle that has lasted nearly three years and spanned three continents.

The wireless industry heavyweights say the 15-year licensing deal gives Nokia rights to a wide portfolio of Qualcomm's patents. Nokia will pay Qualcomm an upfront sum and ongoing royalties, but the companies did not elaborate on the terms.

Nokia, the world's largest handset maker, says the two sides will drop all legal complaints against each other in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Study says online banking may have greater security risks

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A new study finds that many banks are allowing their online customers to take security risks involving sensitive information, leaving them potentially vulnerable to fraud.

As result, researchers fear that even web-savvy consumers have been conditioned to ignore potential clues about whether the banking site they're visiting is real -- or a bogus site.

University of Michigan researchers found design flaws in three-quarters of the more than 200 financial institution Web sites studied.

The results, to be presented Friday at a security conference, cover top banks and smaller institutions alike. The researchers saying which ones were worse than others.

The researchers found that many banks silently redirect users to third-party sites, place "secure login" boxes on insecure Web pages, and use Social Security numbers or e-mail addresses as default user names.

And they say all of those practices put users at risk.

Web retailer tops forecasts

SEATTLE (AP) -- Amazon.com enjoyed a strong increase in sales and profit, both topping Wall Street forecasts in the latest quarter.

The online retailing giant says its second-quarter profit more than doubled to $158 million or 37 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 26 cents a share. Sales of books, CDs and DVDs rose 31 percent, while electronics and other general merchandise sales rose 58 percent.