In brief: China renews Google’s license

BEIJING – China renewed Google’s license to operate a website, preserving the search giant’s toehold in the world’s most populous country after the company gave up an attempt to skirt Beijing’s censorship practices.

Google said Friday that Chinese officials had approved its Internet content provider, or ICP, license but gave no details of what services it would offer.

Renewal had been in question after Google began automatically redirecting users in China to an uncensored Hong Kong search site. But the company dismantled the virtual bridge to Hong Kong last week after regulators objected to the sleight of hand and threatened to revoke its Internet license.

Stocks climb

ahead of reports

NEW YORK – The stock market ended its best week in a year with another gain Friday as investors placed their last bets before the start of second-quarter earnings reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59 points, or 0.6 percent. That gave the Dow its biggest weekly advance in a year, 5.3 percent. Broader indexes posted bigger gains.

For the week, the Dow rose 512 points, or 5.3 percent, its best gain since the week ended July 17, 2009.

Briefcase

• Regulators Friday shut down banks in Maryland, Oklahoma and New York, lifting to 90 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it was appointed receiver of Bay National Bank and Ideal Federal Savings Bank, both based in Baltimore.

The FDIC also took over Home National Bank in Blackwell, Okla., and USA Bank in Port Chester, N.Y.

• Wheat prices retreated Friday after the government predicted production will be better than it had expected just a month ago. Wheat for September delivery fell 10.5 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $5.38 a bushel. It had gained fairly steadily from $4.3325 a bushel on June 10.

• Inventories held by wholesalers rose for a fifth consecutive month in May but sales fell for the first time in more than a year, sending a cautionary signal about the strength of the recovery. Wholesale inventories increased 0.5 percent while sales dropped 0.3 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the first decline for sales since March 2009.