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Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it was recalling more than 400,000 older-model vehicles sold in the United States, citing potential steering-related problems in both.

The Japanese automaker said the recall would affect 373,000 Toyota Avalons manufactured between 2000 to 2004. The company said the vehicle’s steering lock bar could break under certain conditions, increasing the risk of a crash.

Toyota (TM) also cited steering issues in its recall of some 39,000 Lexus LX 470 vehicles. The company said that if the vehicle experienced a severe impact to the front wheels, such as striking a pothole, the steering shaft could disengage over time. The recall only affects vehicles from model years 2003 to 2007.

The company said it was not aware of any accidents related to its Lexus LX 470.

The latest recalls came less than two weeks after the company was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury to produce documents related to steering problems in its vehicles.

The company has also been undertaking a massive effort to rebuild its image in the wake of a number of quality and safety problems that came to light earlier this year.

In recent months, the automaker has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for a variety of safety issues, including possible unintended acceleration and problems with anti-lock brake software.

"Toyota is continuing to work diligently to address safety issues wherever they arise and to strengthen our global quality assurance operations so that Toyota owners can be confident in the safety of their vehicles," Steve St. Angelo, Toyota chief quality officer for North America, said in a statement Thursday.

The company said it would begin to send out notifications in mid-August to owners of the vehicles affected by Thursday’s recall. Drivers will be able to bring their car to a local dealer to have the vehicle fixed at no charge. 

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Solutia Inc. said its second-quarter profit more than tripled from last year’s period, as sales rose more than 26 percent.

For the quarter ended June 30, the company reported net income of $41 million compared to net income of $10 million in last year’s quarter, primarily due to increased sales volumes across all segments, partially offset by higher raw material costs and higher interest expense.

Solutia’s net sales in the recent quarter were $518 million compared to $410 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

During the recent quarter, Solutia bought Novomatrix a Singapore-based maker of window films for the automotive and architectural markets, for $73 million. Solutia also bought the Vista solar product business (now called Vistasolar) from German firm Etimex Holding for $294 million.

The company had said in April that it will stop making a key ingredient for a rubber compound used in making tires, called primary accelerators, in the second half of this year Internet Payday loans. Solutia said Monday that it took a $38 million charge in the second quarter for restructuring costs related to closing that business.

Solutia said it expects steady second-half sales volume with a normal fourth-quarter seasonal slowdown. The company said it expects average selling prices in the second half of the year to be consistent with the second quarter, and full-year revenue growth of from 10 percent to 15 percent versus last year.

St. Louis-based Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA), led by Chairman, President and Chief Executive Jeffry Quinn, develops specialty chemicals, fibers, fluids and other performance products.

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Attending school in California and becoming an engineering major can really pay off for college graduates — by thousands of dollars a year.

According to a report released Thursday from salary-tracker PayScale.com, petroleum engineering majors and graduates of Harvey Mudd College are taking home the biggest paychecks.

While mid-career salaries fell 1.5% overall between 2009 and 2010, engineers, scientists and mathematicians continued to rake in the big bucks, as well as students who graduated from Ivy League schools.

"Our society values something practical — that’s why poetry isn’t popping up on the top of the list," said Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale. "As in the past, engineering and [similar] fields with a strong math component plus a physical world component remain on the top, with lots of money to be made in these fields."

The data in the report, collected from 999 bachelor degree institutions in the last year, track median starting salaries of employees who graduated in the last five years and median mid-career salaries of graduates with more than 10 years of experience in a given field.

Follow the money: So where are all the lavishly paid engineers bred? According to PayScale.com, it’s Claremont, Calif., where Harvey Mudd alums go on to earn a mid-level salary of around $126,000.

"Harvey Mudd is the nexus of all good places to be in terms of graduate earnings," said Lee. "Not only do engineering majors make good money and this happens to be a specialized school for engineering, but southern California is an area that tends to have some of the highest wage earners in the country."

Meanwhile, Dartmouth College, which claimed the title as the school with the highest paid graduates for the past two years, was knocked down the list to number two — tied with Princeton — with its graduates receiving a starting salary of $54,100 and a mid-career salary of $123,000.

Since a large chunk of Dartmouth students typically head into financial services post-college, many graduates felt a blow to their wallets in the last year as financial companies cut back on pay, said Lee.

Harvard, California Institute of Technology, Colgate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Duke and Bucknell rounded out the top ten list of schools with the highest-paid mid-career graduates no fax cash advance.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you choose Coker College in South Carolina — the worst-paying school on the list — be prepared for a starting salary of around $28,900 and a mid-level salary of $40,300.

Majors that pay: Topping the list of best-paying degrees this year, petroleum engineers earn a starting salary of $93,000 and a mid-level salary of $157,000.

That’s $49,000 more than the next most lucrative majors, aerospace engineering and chemical engineering, which both produce graduates earning a salary of around $108,000.

"Petroleum engineering has been an incredibly profitable sector for the last few years," said Lee. "It’s a very cyclical field and depends largely on the price of oil, and we’re very much on an up cycle right now."

Electrical engineering was the third-highest paying major on the list, with mid-level pay of $104,000 per year, followed by nuclear engineering, applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, physics and computer engineering.

But I don’t want to be an engineer! If science and math aren’t your thing, don’t worry. There are plenty of other majors — many you wouldn’t expect — that will put you on the money-making track.

"People always think they have to be an engineer if they want to make good money down the line, but there are a lot of other majors that will help you find good careers with salaries that anyone would be comfortable living on," said Lee.

A building construction major typically leads to a mid-career salary of more than $94,000, while mid-level government majors earn $87,300 on average. International relations, supply chain management and urban planning also boast average salaries of more than $80,000 a year.

Even majors like film production and zoology can help you land a good-paying job. While film-makers earn a starting salary of only $36,100 and recently-graduated zoology majors tend to make about $34,600, mid-level salaries come in at about $77,800 and $68,800, respectively. 

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Now that Goldman Sachs has likely put its troubles with the Securities and Exchange Commission behind it, can the company finally breathe a sigh of relief?

Not just yet.

On Tuesday, Wall Street’s most-gilded firm will report its second-quarter results. Analysts however, have been dramatically cutting forecasts for Goldman Sachs in recent weeks amid concerns that the combination of market volatility and economic tremors will hurt profits.

Current expectations are for the company to earn just under $1.3 billion, or $2 a share, according to Thomson Reuters. That’s down 64% from the $3.4 billion it earned a year ago.

Less-than-impressive numbers from some of Goldman’s closest rivals is shaking investor confidence even further.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), for example, reported a double-digit decline in trading revenues when it delivered its results on Thursday.

Both Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) reported similar declines.

That prompted FBR Capital Markets analyst Steve Stelmach to cut his estimates for Goldman Friday.

And while Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) has taken part in several key initial public offerings recently, including that of electric car maker Tesla Motors (TSLA) and exchange operator CBOE Holdings (CBOE), investment banking activity remains sluggish.

Revenue from stock and debt activity worldwide fell 24% to $7.9 billion during the second quarter from $10.4 billion in the previous quarter, according to research firm Dealogic.

But the troubles for Goldman don’t appear to end there. With a significant presence in the United Kingdom, the company is also likely to take a charge worth several hundred million dollars as a result of the British government’s decision earlier this year to tax bankers’ bonuses.

At any other time, Goldman might have been able to pretty up its results by lowering the amount of money it sets aside for employee pay this quarter. The only problem, however is that the firm dramatically lowered the amount it added to its compensation pool last quarter.

In order to pay its famously large bonuses at year end, experts suggest the company won’t have that option this time around.

"They made the decision in the first quarter to start out at much lower levels than they ever had before," said William Blair analyst Mark Lane. "I don’t think they can do much there."

What could weigh on Goldman’s results even further is Goldman’s proposed $550 million settlement with the SEC. Analysts expect the company to take a charge this quarter for the full amount. That would be about 92 cents a share, according to FBR’s Stelmach.

Executives from the company are also likely to face tough questions Tuesday about the impact of the forthcoming financial regulatory bill.

Some analysts have suggested that Goldman could be among the hardest hit by changes to derivatives trading and the so-called "Volcker rule", which would limit how much banks can invest in private equity and hedge funds.

But with the bill expected to be signed into law by President Obama next week and official rules still several months away, Goldman will be able to breathe easier knowing it doesn’t have to answer those tough questions just yet.

"There is no way they will quantify anything," said Lane. 

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Home sales and the average price of homes sold continued to climb in June, according to the Memphis Area Association of Realtors.

In June, total Multiple Listing Service sales were 1,152, up 8.5 percent from 1,062 in June 2009. June MLS home sales were 3.6 percent lower than in May, however, when 1,195 homes sold.

The average sales price in June jumped 3.9 percent to $161,000, compared to $155,000 in June 2009, and was 7.3 percent higher than the previous month of May when the average sales price was $150,000.

For the first fix months of 2010, MLS sales are up 4.2 percent — from 5,842 in 2009 to 6,089 this year — while the average price is up 5 payday loan online.9 percent to $144,000.

Data shows that the average time on the market is 108.6. The majority of sales, 38.8 percent or 447 sales, were in the $0-$99,999 price group. The second largest was $100,000-$199,999, with 390 sales, or 33.9 percent.

MAAR’s MLS database records all property transactions in Shelby, Fayette, Tipton and DeSoto counties.

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Two years after the credit squeeze began, Americans are still pulling back.

A government report released Thursday showed that consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 4.5% in May, making it the fourth consecutive month of declining credit.

Total consumer credit fell a seasonally adjusted $9.1 billion to $2.4 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported.

Economists had predicted a decline in total borrowing of $3 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com.

"No one is shocked to see another decrease," said Tim Quinlan, an economist with Wells Fargo. "This report, combined with disappointing May retail sales report, is the latest indication of weakness in consumer spending."

The decline was led by a 10.5% drop in revolving credit, which includes credit card debt payday loans.

Non-revolving credit — car, personal and student loans, among other things — also decreased. It declined by $1.82 billion, or 1.5%.

The Fed on Thursday also revised its April figures. After originally reporting that credit had gone up by $1 billion, it now says credit decreased by $14.9 billion.

Quinlan expects consumer credit to continue to decline "as consumers try to gradually repair their balance sheets."

And consumers are being more conservative.

"We look to a modest growth in personal income, but now expect consumers to split that increase between spending and saving," Quinlan added. 

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Although gasoline prices did not drop by much in Southern California, it was a third-straight week of declines, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch.

According to the Auto Club, the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.121 per gallon, which is six-tenths of a cent less than last week, a nickel higher than last month, and 17 cents higher than last year.

On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.185, down two cents from last week, four cents higher than a month ago, and 16 cents above last year.

In the Inland Empire, the average per gallon price is $3 cash advance loan no fax.105, which is four-tenths of a cent lower than last week, five cents higher than last month, and 17 cents more than last year.

"The gas price spread between this year and the same time last year has shrunk from a difference of about $1.10 in January to just four cents per gallon in early June, but now the gap has widened again. Right now, the difference between today’s pump price and the July 2009 price is 15 to 17 cents a gallon," Auto Club Spokesperson Jeffrey Spring said in a statement.

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Accounting and business consulting company LECG Corp. officially closed its first acquisition since merging with Smart Business Advisory & Consulting and relocating from California to the Philadelphia area earlier this year.

LECG agreed to buy Bourne Business Consulting, a 36-person consulting firm in London, on June 22 and the deal closed officially on Monday.

LECG (NASDAQ:XPRT) didn’t say what it plans to pay in the deal. But in a release Monday, the investment banking firm that assisted Bourne with the transaction, Equiteq, said the deal includes “an initial consideration of 2.75 million British pounds plus contingent consideration over the next four years.”

Picking up Bourne will give LECG more clout in the valuation, transfer pricing, intellectual property and tax consulting areas in Europe. Danny Ryan is LECG’s managing director in London.

Bourne was started in 2002 and has offices in London and Farnham in Surrey. It is led by four partners: Philip Feibusch, Colette Moscati, Ian Mackie and Toni Dyson.

LECG has 39 offices around the world and Devon, Pa.-based Steve Samek serves as CEO. LECG and Smart completed a merger in March and chose to operate under the LECG name but locate its headquarters and take its CEO from Smart. Samek said earlier this spring that he expected 50 jobs to transfer from LECG’s Emeryville, Calif., offices to Smart’s Devon, Pa., location and held a job fair to hire candidates.

With the headquarters transition, the combined firm has already named two new senior managers to handle chief financial officer and general counsel duties. Steve Fife, LECG’s CFO, and Deanne Tully, LECG’s general counsel, will resign from their roles this summer and will not make the move to the East Coast. Fife will be replaced on Aug payday loans. 15 by Warren D. Barratt and Tully stepped down June 30 in favor of Yuri Rozenfeld.

“Having the management team centralized in one location is an important part of our strategy to drive operational excellence, effectively manage costs, and provide support for our professionals,” Samek said. “With more than two-thirds of our clients located in Europe or on the East Coast of the U.S., we cannot underestimate the value of having our leadership close to our engagements and the professionals who serve them.”

Barratt has more than 27 years of financial, accounting and general management experience. In addition to 11 years in public accounting with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, he has served as CFO for a variety of public and private companies in the services, technology and life sciences industries. Most recently, he was senior vice president and CFO of Epitome Systems, a privately held business process software company. Prior to that, he was CFO of Oncura, a multinational medical device joint venture.

Rozenfeld joined LECG June 1 and brings nearly 15 years of legal experience, most recently as senior securities counsel at Walgreens. Previously, he was general counsel and secretary at I-trax.

LECG also recently said it promoted two managing directors who joined the firm earlier this year from Huron Consulting to the positions of regional managing partners in the firm’s litigation, forensics and finance practice. Joe Decilveo, who joined the firm earlier this year from Huron Consulting, has responsibilities on the east coast while Stan Logan oversees the firm’s Midwest region and operations in Asia-Pacific, including the firm’s new Shanghai office.

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Most major automakers reported U.S. sales strongly up from a year ago, but weaker than both May’s sales levels and industry forecasts.

The weaker-than-expected sales and the slower sales pace could be a sign that the weakening economic and jobs outlook is cutting into demand for cars.

Overall sales were up 14% from a year ago, according to sales tracker Autodata, but that left sales down 11% from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted annual sales rate came in just under 11.1 million vehicles, the weakest reading since February.

Experts said rising worries about the economy are clearly cutting into dealer showroom traffic. A survey released Tuesday from the Conference Board found consumer confidence falling sharply and the percentage of Americans planning to buy a new car in the next six months falling to a record low of 1.2%, from 2.7% in May.

That’s a concern heading into the summer, which is typically a big sales season for automakers.

"It’s really a scary thing," said Jessica Caldwell, senior industry analyst at Edmunds.com. "The past week has been a barrage of bad economic news, and that’s not helping. I think it’s going to take a pick-up in the economy, more than new models or incentives to get sales going again."

The one thing going for most automakers are lower than normal inventories of new cars on dealer lots heading into the summer, despite the slowing sales. Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.com said automakers have all learned to limit production more than they did in the past. That will be bad news for consumers, though, since it means cash-back offers and other deals typical during the summer sales season will be tougher to find this year.

"When you have low demand and an abundance of supply, that generally triggers an incentive war. That’s not what we’re seeing this year," he said.

GM, the nation’s leading automaker, reported sales up 11% from a year ago, as the four brands it continues to actively sell — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC — posted a 36% rise. There was a 98% drop in sales for Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac and Saab, the four brands GM shed as part of the bankruptcy process. Those brands now make up only 0.3% of its sales as GM disposes of its remaining inventory.

But GM sales slipped 12.5% from May. Forecasts had been for a decline of between 8% and 10% compared to May.

Steve Carlisle, GM’s vice president of global product planning, said most of the decline from June was due to a 30% drop in fleet sales to businesses customers, such as rental car companies. The decline was planned due to the front-loading of those sales early in the year, he said low fee cash advance. Retail sales to customers declined only slightly from May.

"It’s not so far off expectations," Carlisle said. He added that GM is expecting retail sales to remain flat the rest of the summer.

George Pipas, Ford’s director of sales analysis, said the industry has been seeing modest improvement each quarter from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the second quarter, which closed out in June. He’s hopeful there will be further modest improvement in consumer demand going into the summer.

"I think modest is the operative word," he said.

Ford (F, Fortune 500) reported that sales at its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands were up 15% from a year ago, but down 13% from May. Forecasts had been for a 17% rise from a year ago.

Sales fell 29% from a year ago at its Volvo brand, which it is in the process of selling to Chinese automaker Geely.

Ford sales were enough to keep it ahead of Toyota Motor (TM) in competition for the nation’s No. 2 sales position. Toyota sales were up only 7% from a year ago, but that left it down almost 14% from May sales levels. Forecasts had been for a drop of 12% to 13% from May.

Jim Lentz, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., said his company was pleased with its June sales results, but he acknowledged that "the entire automotive industry struggled in June as weakening consumer confidence weighed on sales."

Chrysler Group reported that its sales soared 35% from a year ago, but that was still down 12% from May levels. Chrysler, at least, was able to edge past forecasts, which had called for a year-over-year gain of 33%. Caldwell said Chrysler leaned heavily on fleet sales to support its sales total during the month. Chrysler does not break down the difference between fleet and consumer sales though.

Honda Motor reported only a 6% rise in sales compared to a year ago, which resulted in a 9% drop from May’s sales total. But that was better than Japanese rival Nissan, where June sales were up 11% from a year ago, but down 23% from May. Both fell short of forecasts.

Hyundai Motor Group, which includes both the Hyundai and Kia brands, was able to buck trends by posting a modest 3% gain from its May sales levels, and a 28% increase from a year ago. That topped the forecast of a 13% gain from 2009 levels. 

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