American Electric Power Inc. said Friday its second-quarter earnings dropped 57 percent, mainly from charges as the company slashed 11.5 percent of its workforce and cut costs.

AEP recorded a one-time charge of $293 million for severance and other restructuring costs while eliminating 2,461 positions.

At least 2,000 of those jobs were eliminated through a voluntary buyout offer extended to the company’s employees in April, while layoffs accounted for the rest, AEP spokesman Pat Hemlepp said.

The company posted net income of $136 million, or 28 cents per share, for the quarter that ended June 30, down from $316 million, or 67 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Without one-time charges the company would have earned $355 million, or 74 cents per share.

Regulators close small Georgia bank

Regulators on Friday shut down a small bank in Georgia, lifting to 104 the number of U.S. banks to fail this year as the industry has struggled to cope with mounting loan defaults and recession.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over NorthWest Bank and Trust, based in Acworth, Ga., with $167.7 million in assets. State Bank and Trust Co., based in Macon, Ga., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of the failed bank. In addition, the FDIC and State Bank and Trust agreed to share losses on $107.6 million of NorthWest Bank and Trust’s other assets.

Market’s month best since July 2009

Stocks had a fitting end to a choppy July as prices seesawed their way to a narrowly mixed finish. The market still had its best month in a year.

Investors had an ambivalent response Friday to the government’s gross domestic product report. The Dow Jones industrial average fell almost 120 points in early trading, then ratcheted up and down until the close. The Dow ended down just a point, and the other big indexes had similarly small moves.

The Dow rose 7.1 percent for the month, its best showing since it gained 7.8 percent in July 2009.

Earnings triple for Chevron

Chevron’s second-quarter earnings tripled on better refining margins and higher prices for oil and natural gas, the company said Friday.

The results easily beat most Wall Street expectations. The San Ramon, Calif., company is the latest oil major to report big gains in the second quarter as demand for oil and gasoline has pushed prices higher. Exxon Mobil Corp. posted income of $7.56 billion in the quarter, its best result since the last three months of 2008. Royal Dutch Shell Group boosted second-quarter earnings 15 percent, and ConocoPhillips said profits nearly tripled in the April-June period.

Cargo price-fixing will cost Delta

Delta Air Lines will pay a $38 million fine to settle criminal accusations that the cargo unit of Northwest Airlines conspired to fix prices, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Northwest met with other airlines at least from 2004 to 2006 to fix cargo prices between the U.S. and Japan, according to the charge filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington. Meetings were also held to make sure the haulers were complying with the agreed-upon rates, according to the charge.