PENDING HOME SALES FELL 0.7 PERCENT IN JULY

WASHINGTON» Fewer Americans signed contracts in July to buy homes compared with the previous month, as real estate sales are slipping even though economic growth is solid.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its pending home sales index fell 0.7 percent last month to 106.2. During the past year, contract signings have tumbled 2.3 percent as home values have climbed at roughly double the pace of average wage growth.

Home sales have stumbled in recent months despite the robust job market. Affordability has become a challenge; there are few entry-level homes priced below $250,000 being listed for sale and mortgage rates have jumped over the past year.

Pending sales in July fell in the West and South, but they rose in the Northeast and Midwest. Sales in all four geographic regions have declined over the past year, with the sharpest drop in the West, where homes are generally more expensive. Pending sales are a barometer of home purchases that are completed a month or two later.

Brown-Forman posts higher profit.

LOUISVILLE,

KY.» Brown-Forman Corp. reported higher first-quarter net income Wednesday, fueled partly by strong overseas sales aimed at softening the short-term impact from tariffs. But the spirits company best known for its Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey brand cautioned it’s bracing for a period of uncertainty from trade disputes in some key markets.

Sales surged in its top European markets due to inventory stockpiling as the company and its customers braced for the effects of tariffs imposed in the European Union that targeted American whiskey and other U.S. products.

Foreign markets account for slightly more than half of Brown-Forman’s overall sales. EU countries represent slightly more than one-fourth of total sales.

So far, the company said it has responded by raising the price of its American whiskeys in a handful of markets due to tariffs, but it plans to eventually spread the price hikes to other countries where tariffs were imposed. A company spokesman said Brown-Forman has not yet increased prices in its biggest European markets, which are the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Maker of James Bond’s favorite car eyes stock market.

LONDON» Aston Martin, the maker of James Bond’s favorite sports car, said Wednesday it may sell shares for the first time as it seeks to attract more wealthy buyers with an expanded product range including sedans, sport utility vehicles and even submarines.

The company said it will sell at least 25 percent of Aston Martin’s shares if it decides to go forward with an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. Details of the IPO would be published around Sept. 20.

The announcement came as Aston Martin said first-half pre-tax profits rose to 20.8 million pounds ($26.8 million) from 20.3 million pounds during the same period last year.

Chief executive Andy Palmer said the potential IPO “represents a key milestone in the history of the company.”

Laith Khalaf, an analyst with Hargreaves Lansdown, said the expected value of the company could put it near the top end of the FTSE 250 index of midsized U.K. companies.

Noting that when Ferrari floated in 2015 it took the stock ticker RACE, Khalaf quipped that Aston Martin should go for “007.”

“There are few people who wouldn’t want an Aston Martin on their drive, and even fewer who can afford one,” he wrote to investors.

U.K. Brexit chief says deadline for deal may slip.

LONDON» The U.K. and the European Union may not meet their selfimposed October deadline for a divorce deal, Great Britain’s Brexit minister said Wednesday.

But Dominic Raab said he remained “stubbornly optimistic” that there would be an agreement before Great Britain leaves the bloc in March.

Separately, his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, sparked a rally in the pound when he said the bloc was willing to offer Great Britain terms it had never extended to any nonmember country.

Raab said a deal in October remains the goal, but there is a “possibility it may creep beyond that.” The Brexit secretary told a House of Lords committee that the sides were aiming for October, “but there is some measure of leeway.”

Raab said Great Britain and the bloc were 80 percent of the way to a withdrawal deal, and urged the EU to show “pragmatism” in the negotiations.

“I’m confident that a deal is within our sights,” he said.

Great Britain and the EU aim to hammer out an agreement on divorce terms and the outlines of future trade by a European Council summit in October so that it can be approved by individual EU countries before the U.K. leaves the bloc March 29.