IN BRIEF / Southern California

Hot Topic Inc., which sells rock band T-shirts and other music-related items, said fiscal third-quarter earnings will rise about 20% from a year earlier as sales increased.

Earnings will increase to 40 cents to 42 cents a share for the quarter ending Nov. 3 from 34 cents a year earlier, Hot Topic said. Sales for the five weeks ended Saturday rose 18% from the year-ago period.

Hot Topic is expected to earn 42 cents in the quarter, the average estimate of seven analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.

Shares of Industry-based Hot Topic rose $1.85, or 6.5%, to close at $30.25 on Nasdaq.