Petzl: A good

place to work

Petzl America in Clearfield has been named to Outside magazine's fifth annual list of the Best Places to Work in 2012. The company is North American headquarters of Petzl International, a French-based enterprise known for its headlamps and rock climbing equipment. Petzl America, which employs 50 Utahns, was ranked No. 35 on Outside's list of the 100 best places to work.

Target sees

revenue rise

Target Corp. posted earnings of $704 million, or $1.06 per share, for its quarter ended July 30. That compares with $704 million or $1.03 per share, in the same period last year. Revenue rose 3.5 percent, to $16.78 billion in the quarter. Revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 3.1 percent.

U.S. homebuilder

confidence up

U.S. homebuilders grew more confident in the housing recovery in August, as many reported that prospects for sales were the best they've been since the real estate bubble burst five years ago. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released rose two points this month, to 37, up from 35 in July, the highest reading since March 2007.

Laundering case

settled by bank

Standard Chartered, the British bank, has agreed to pay New York's top banking regulator $340 million to settle claims that it laundered hundreds of billions of dollars in tainted money for Iran and lied to authorities.

Cisco's 4Q

earnings jump

Cisco's earnings jumped 56 percent in the latest quarter, compared with last year, when it was in the throes of a restructuring program. Cisco earned $1.9 billion, or 36 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with income of $1.2 billion, or 22 cents per share. Revenue rose 4.4 percent, to $11.7 billion.

Nokia bonds

downgraded

Rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded Nokia Corp.'s long-term corporate credit rating further into junk status amid concerns over the cellphone company's deteriorating profitability. It also warned there could be further downgrades.

Car dealership

numbers grow

The number of U.S. car dealerships rose in 2011 after several years of sharp declines during the recession. There were 17,767 dealerships at the end of 2011, or 108 more than the year before, according to consulting firm Urban Science. That's a big reversal from 2009, when the country lost 1,603 dealerships. The largest contributor in 2011 was Fiat.