HEWLETT-PACKARD Co is drawing inspiration from Milan designers to maintain its lead over Dell Inc in the personal-computer market.

Instead of building workhorse machines in utilitarian cases, Hewlett-Packard strives to create sleeker, more stylish PCs by looking to the fabrics and shapes in Italy's furniture showrooms, said Stacy Wolff, director of notebook-computer design.

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SWATCH Group AG, the world's largest watch maker, reported yesterday that first-half operating profit exceeded analysts' estimates after timepiece margins widened and the company's tax rate dropped.

Operating profit rose 16 percent to 593 million Swiss francs (US$539 million), the company said yesterday. That beat the 561-million-franc median of nine analysts' estimates gathered by B...