Turnaround

GM is finishing the year in a slightly stronger position than government officials expected and is on track to return to the stock markets in the sec ond half of 2010, the Obama administration’s top auto adviser said. Ron Bloom also said Chrysler Group LLC is exceeding officials’ ex pectations, largely by re building cash reserves.

MetLife credit

MetLife had its credit rating cut by Moody’s In vestors Service after three straight quarterly losses, by one level to A3 — the fourth lowest of 10 investment grade ratings — from A2.

Nike earns

Nike reported second- quarter profit that fell less than analysts esti mated and said orders rose 4 percent from a year earlier, helped by currency changes. Net income dropped 4 per cent, to $375.4 million from $391 million.

Oracle up

Oracle said its profit jumped more than 12 per cent in the latest quarter as corporations seemed more willing to spend money on new technol ogy projects. Oracle said it earned $1.46 billion, or 29 cents per share, versus $1.30 billion, or 25 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 4 percent to $5.9 billion.