Eagle lowers guidance

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. lowered third-quarter earnings guidance after September sales in stores open at least a year fell 2 percent. The South Side teen retailer is now expecting earnings in the quarter between 44 and 45 cents per share, down from its earlier 47- to 48-cent projections. Total sales for September fell 5 percent to $222.8 million. The company said unseasonably warm weather didn't help.

Realtors pessimistic

This year's decline in existing home sales will be steeper than previously anticipated, a trade group for real estate agents predicted yesterday. The eighth straight downwardly revised forecast from the National Association of Realtors calls for U.S. existing home sales to be 10.8 percent below last year as housing market woes persist. And sales of new homes are expected to finish 2007 at the

lowest level in a decade.

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp. jumped nearly 10 percent yesterday after the discount retailer said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 5 percent on increased membership fee revenue and higher same-store warehouse sales. Net income for the period ended Sept. 2 rose to $372.4 million, or 83 cents per share, compared with $355.6 million, or 75 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Shares of the Issaquah, Wash.-based company rose about $6.03, or 9.5 percent, to $69.34.

Boeing delays deliveries

Boeing Co. is delaying initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner by six months until late next year due to continued challenges in completing assembly of the first airplanes, the company said yesterday. Boeing said deliveries that had been scheduled to begin next May would be pushed back to late 2008.

Help with mortgage costs

The Bush administration announced a new mortgage industry coalition yesterday aimed at helping homeowners avoid being trapped in a rising tide of foreclosures. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the initiative would boost financial companies' efforts to help an estimated 2 million homeowners whose introductory mortgages with low rates are resetting at much higher rates.

Also in business ...

Duquesne University has been ranked No. 8 worldwide by the Aspen Institute for leadership in integrating social and environmental issues into its master of business administration program. ... The Downtown-based CL Fund, a nonprofit economic development organization, has received new investments of $4 million from PNC Community Partners Inc., and $1 million from National City Community Development Corporation. ... Houston-based Waste Management Inc. plans to spend hundreds of millions over the next dozen years to make its operations more environmentally friendly.