Exxon Mobil Corp. yesterday reported its lowest profit in nearly six years, a 66 percent plunge from the second quarter a year ago as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company confronted sharply lower crude and gas prices and anemic demand for refined products. For the king of corporate profit records, it marked the third straight quarter for lower year-over-year earnings, providing a clear picture of how demand for oil and gasoline has evaporated.

On her last day at Chimborazo Elementary School, Johnequea Whitaker cracked a big, wide smile. The graduating fifth-grader was getting what she wanted, and she was getting it delivered by a couple of global superstars. A little after 9 a.m.—just a few minutes after Johnequea wrapped up her first TV interview—tennis greats Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf strolled into the school in Richmond’s East End.

Henrico County-based Genworth Financial Inc. hit a key financial target today by repaying the last of its long term debt coming due this year.

Shares of Genworth Financial Inc. fell 3.6 percent after the company was downgraded by Raymond James Financial Inc. The Henrico County-based insurer dropped 24 cents to $6.43 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The company has surged more than sevenfold since March 6 and is unlikely to outperform rivals by the same margin, Raymond James analyst Steven Schwartz said in a research note yesterday.

Claims for its mortgage insurance are climbing, but so, too, are Genworth Financial Inc.‘s efforts to keep people from losing their homes.

A $67 million flyover project designed to improve traffic flow in the Short Pump area of Henrico County is finished. The Virginia Department of Transportation said yesterday that the three-year project was completed at about $1.1 million under budget. It includes a two-lane flyover ramp to carry drivers from Interstate 64 to Interstate 295, an additional travel lane along I-64 east of Route 288 to I-295, and an additional travel lane along I-64 west from I-295 to Route 288.

Soft financial markets meant big losses on investments, pushing Genworth Financial Inc. into the red for the first quarter. The Henrico County-based company reported a loss of $469 million, or $1.08 a share, compared with net income of $116 million, or 27 cents, in year-ago period. Net income, excluding one-time losses, was $14 million compared with $244 million a year ago. Revenue fell to $1.7 billion from $2.8 billion.

Seeking another slim-down to strengthen its finances, insurance giant Genworth Financial Inc. announced plans yesterday to sell a nearly half-interest in its Canadian mortgage-insurance business. Unlike its U.S. mortgage-insurance operation, hit hard by the skyrocketing foreclosure rates over the past several months, Genworth’s Canadian business is profitable.

Shares of Genworth Financial Inc. lost nearly a fifth of their value yesterday after the Henrico County-based insurance company said it would not be eligible to participate in the government’s $700 billion financial rescue program, deflating hopes that it would soon get a lifeline. Investors have been concerned that Genworth and other struggling insurance companies would be the next part of the financial industry to need help after banks, as the slumping stock market wallops their investment portfolios.

Genworth Financial Inc. is bracing for a dire economy—10 percent unemployment, an additional 13 percent drop in home prices and declines of 15 percent or more in the stock market—but doesn’t think it will need to lay off more employees, Chief Executive Officer Michael D. Fraizer said yesterday. A series of dramatic late-fall and winter moves, including laying off 1,000 employees, has the Henrico County-based insurance and investment giant hunkered down for the worst. “This is a company that has done what it had to do to move forward,“ Fraizer said a day after the company reported losing $572 million during 2008.

Reporting its third consecutive quarterly loss, Genworth Financial Inc. reported fourth-quarter losses of $321 million, or 74 cents per share, compared with $178 million, or 41 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. For the year, the Henrico County-based insurer reported losses of $572 million, or $1.32 a share, compared with $1.2 billion, or $2.58 per share, in 2007.

—Genworth Financial Inc. laid off 1,000 people this week, including 400 at its headquarters in Henrico County.

Employees at Genworth Financial Inc. are finding out this week just who will lose their jobs. The Henrico County-based insurance company is in the process of notifying 1,000 employees, or about 14 percent of its worldwide work force, that their jobs will be eliminated.

Genworth Financial Inc. is in the process this week of notifying 1,000 employees, or about 14 percent of its worldwide work force, that their jobs will be eliminated. A spokesman for the Henrico County-based insurance company would provide no further details, including how many cuts would be made here. More information will be forthcoming later this week, spokesman Tom Topinka said.

Henrico-based insurance company Genworth Financial Inc. will cut 1,000 jobs, about 14 percent of its worldwide employees, as part of its reponse to the global recession. It would not say how many of the layoffs might be among its Richmond-area staff.