Mortgage bank Countrywide used its VIP loan program to influence Congress. (Reuters)

The search for a CEO for Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) narrows to interim chief Ross Levinsohn and Jason Kilar of Hulu. (Reuters)

Samsung makes a $5.9 billion profit, due in part to sales of its Galaxy products. (Reuters)

Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW) says online demand for jobs rose in June. (Reuters)

Volkswagen says the buyout of Porsche makes it likely the company can become the largest auto manufacturer in the world. (Reuters)

June consumer activity shows that lower gasoline prices did not help retail demand. (WSJ)

The SEC’s plan to set global accounting rules is delayed again. (WSJ)

The European Central Bank and central banks in Europe and China lower rates to help their economies. (WSJ)

Fiat tries to cut workforce in Europe to help increase productivity. (WSJ)

President Obama attacks China over duties it puts on American cars. (WSJ)

Because of flaws in its austerity plans, Greece begins to be more aggressive about government expense cuts. (WSJ)

Germany’s Merck KGaA suffers a setback in trials for its cancer drug Erbitux. (WSJ)

The number of Americans who can work but are no longer “participating” in the labor market increases. (WSJ)

Chinese car makers increase sales in emerging markets. (NYT)

Greece drops its request to improve the provisions of its current bailout agreement. (FT)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) plans to release its own smartphone to compete with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

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