WASHINGTON — The U.S. housing market has started to recover from the most far-reaching crisis since the Great Depression, data released yesterday show.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third month in a row in June, the National Association of Realtors reported. That hasn't happened since early 2004, during the boom.

Home sales rose 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May. Sales were up in all four regions of the country.

FORD SHOWS GAINS IN SECOND QUARTER

DEARBORN, Mich. — Helped by a lightened debt load, Ford Motor Co. posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $2.3 billion yesterday, following the worst loss in company history a year earlier.

The net profit ends a string of four straight quarterly losses for the nation's second-largest automaker, which has gained U.S. market share at the expense of crosstown rivals Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., both of which spent time under bankruptcy court supervision. Ford last went into the black in the first quarter of 2008, with net profit of $70 million.

However, excluding its debt reduction and other items, Ford would have reported a quarterly loss, though smaller than what Wall Street expected.

3 AIRLINES REPORT QUARTERLY PROFIT

DALLAS — Three U.S. airlines said yesterday that they made money in the April-June quarter, the start of the summer travel season, with help from cheaper jet fuel and extra fees on passengers.

The CEO of US Airways said bookings have picked up and the swoon in business travel may be easing. JetBlue expects to make money the next two quarters, and talked about expansion.

But skies aren't all blue in airline country. Traffic and revenue continued to fall at all three carriers — US Airways, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines.

GLOOMY OUTLOOK FOR STRUGGLING UPS

ATLANTA — Consumers are sending fewer, lighter packages, businesses are urgently trying to spend less on shipping orders, and it all spells bad news for UPS Inc.

The economic bellwether said yesterday its second-quarter profit plunged 49 percent and cautioned that its near-term outlook probably won't improve.

The story from smaller rival FedEx Corp. last month was even worse, as it faced some of the same challenges as UPS, but also accounted for hefty one-time charges and reported a sizable loss in its most recent quarter.

Both companies are tied to the well-being of the U.S. economy since they deal with such basic indicators of company health as orders and product shipments.

If demand doesn't improve, that could mean more job cuts at UPS, which as of the end of the second quarter had shed 15,000 jobs, mostly through attrition, compared with the same time last year. The company has about 410,000 employees.