IN BRIEF

TOKYO

Fuel-efficient-car sales help Toyota’s profits

Booming sales of fuel-efficient cars helped lift Toyota to its biggest quarterly profit and put the maker of the Prius hybrid on pace to beat General Motors as the world’s No. 1 automaker this year.

Japan’s biggest automaker posted a 32.3 percent jump in profit to 491.54 billion yen ($4.1 billion) for the April-June quarter.

Quarterly sales rose 15.7 percent to 6.523 trillion yen ($54.7 billion). At current exchange rates, that’s more than General Motors Corp.’s record quarterly sales of $54.5 billion set in the second quarter of 2006.

Southwest Gas users’ bills inch up in week

Single-family residential customers of Southwest Gas began paying an average of 95 cents more in their monthly bills effective Wednesday.

The increase comes from a June 29 quarterly filing of the base tariff energy rate with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada.

Gas rates will increase by about 2.2 cents a therm, which represents a 2.6 percent increase in the gas cost portion of rates. The increase totals about $8.6 million for all customer classes.

Southwest Gas spokeswoman Cynthia Messina said the quarterly filings reflect changes in the cost to produce natural gas and can result in an increase or decrease in rates.

Southwest Gas made an adjustment in February that brought the amount of the typical resident in Southern Nevada down $2.11 to $81.25 or about the same level as it was a year ago.

MELVILLE, N.Y.

Workers out of time at mortgage investor

American Home Mortgage, which has been struggling to raise money to make new loans, stunned its work force this week by announcing its financial backers have essentially pulled the plug and all but a fraction — or 750 — of the staff was let go. The unemployed include the 1,400 workers at its Long Island headquarters.

Many employees declined to speak with reporters who converged outside the offices, with several saying “it’s not appropriate” to comment on the layoffs. But those who did praised the company, and were generally optimistic about their futures.

Ronco sliced, diced to tune of $6.5 million

Ronco Corp., the bankrupt maker of the Veg-O-Matic vegetable slicer and the Pocket Fisherman, said it will sell its assets to a private equity firm for $6.5 million.

Marlin Equity Partners, the initial bidder, didn’t face any competing offers by a July 30 deadline, according to court documents filed by Ronco on Thursday. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Woodland Hills, Calif., approved the sale on Friday, a lawyer for the company said.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices rise amid credit worries

U.S. Treasury prices increased Friday, as investors jumped into government bonds with stocks down amid continued credit worries.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was up $4.38 per $1,000 in face value, or 0.44 points, from its level at 5 p.m. Thursday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 4.72 percent from 4.77 percent.