August 15, 2003

Wet summer in New York leads to explosion in growth of mushrooms and ferns; some mushrooms are edible variety but experts advise against eating them; photos (M)

Article on sport utility vehicles like Hummer H2, Lincoln Navigator and GMC Yukon, which come equipped with extra outlets to power gadgets; photo (M)

ING Groep NV says second-quarter profit increased 9.5 percent, to 1.8 billion euros ($2.11 bilion) (S)

Floyd Norris column says gradual recovery of US economy is not as 'jobless' as commentators have said if one goes by household survey used to compile unemployment rate instead of government's monthly survey; graph (M)

Core Products Lift Quarterly Profit at Dell Dell said its quarterly profit rose 24 percent, to $621 million, or 24 cents a share, as sales of its desktop and notebook PC's and computer servers increased 27 percent. A year earlier, Dell earned $501 million, or 19 cents a share. Revenue rose to $9.78 billion from $8.46 billion a year earlier. Michael Dell, the chief executive, suggested that sentiment among corporate executives was improving slightly, after three years of recession in technology spending. [Page C3.]