Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word earnings. 9 news.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Horizon Bancorp said Monday that it increased its provision for loan and lease losses expense by $1.4 million in December, citing credit quality deterioration in its wholesale mortgage and indirect auto loan portfolios. The commercial bank-holding company expects its fourth-quarter provision expense to total $1.77 million, compared to the third-quarter provision of $550,000. However, Horizon still sees 2007 full-year earnings exceeding those of 2006.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Projections for S&P 500 companies' fourth-quarter earnings swung to a 6.1 percent drop on Monday from an 11.5 percent rise on October 1, in the biggest quarterly move since Reuters Estimates started compiling analysts' forecasts in 1999.

Reuters - Projections for S&P 500 companies' fourth-quarter earnings swung to a 6.1 percent drop on Monday from an 11.5 percent rise on October 1, in the biggest quarterly move since Reuters Estimates started compiling analysts' forecasts in 1999.

Want to save money or boost your earnings in the coming year? TODAY Financial editor Jean Chatzky shares tips on how to get your finances into shape for 2008.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Strategists at Citigroup expect double-digit returns in 2008, according to a note published Monday. "European equities should be supported by lower rates, macro resilience, earnings growth, reasonable valuations and liquidity," the strategists said. They are sellers of sectors exposed to financial or consumer leverage, but buyers of food and beverage, industrial goods and services, personal and household goods, telecoms and technology.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Merrill Lynch on Monday completed a previously announced deal with Aegon , where it's selling its life insurance unit for $1.25 billion in cash. Aegon's Transamerica companies will continue to supply insurance and investment products, including offering the flagship Merrill Lynch Investor Choice Annuity product through the acquired Merrill Lynch subsidiaries. Merrill Lynch expects to record a gain on sale during the fourth quarter of 2007 and anticipates the transaction to be slightly accretive to earnings per share and to have a positive effect on return on equity in 2008 after redeployment of proceeds. Aegon expects the acquisition to add scale to its existing business and to have a marginally positive effect on earnings per share.

At the beginning of 2007, Marriott International was dazzling Wall Street, with the firm's shares hitting all-time highs in February after beating analysts' expectations -- yet again -- for quarterly earnings.

After a disappointing 2007, profits are expected to rebound in the coming year. But there's a lot that could go wrong

As today draws the curtain on a topsy-turvy year, market experts believe that the recent slowdown in the UK will intensify in the coming months, with several sectors exposed to potentially damaging falls in their earnings outlook.