COMPANIES

Government incentives that pay motorists 2,500 euros ($3,590) to trade in old cars for new gave Germany's auto market a final boost in August, lifting registrations 28 percent year on year.

A former Bear Stearns Cos hedge fund manager accused of insider trading urged a federal judge to reject evidence suggesting he improperly tried to use money as collateral to build a condominium and repeatedly ignored conflict-of-interest rules on in-house trades.

The Gulf state of Qatar has taken a 10 percent voting stake in Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PSHG_p.DE) as agreed, the German automotive group said on Wednesday.

BMW (BMWG.DE), the world's largest premium carmaker, expects to post U.S. sales growth in the last four months of 2009 as the economy shows signs of coming out of the worst part of the recession, the head of its U.S. operations said on Tuesday.

Maruti Suzuki India (MRTI.BO), the country's top car maker, is confident of maintaining profits and growth despite increasing competition, including from Tata Motors' (TAMO.BO) Nano, the world's cheapest car.

South Korea's largest car parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co (012330.KS) has won a $2 billion order from Chrysler for chassis modules to be used in two Chrysler car models, sending its shares up more than 7 percent.

The bursting of America's housing bubble in the summer of 2006 triggered the global financial crisis and recession. The sharp fall in house prices that followed caused a dramatic downturn in household wealth, leading to lower consumer spending and an overall fall in GDP. By now, wealth in the form of owner-occupied housing is down about 30%, equivalent to a loss of more than $6 trillion of househo...

Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk is readying a war chest for proceeds from a $1 billion-plus share placement and crossing its fingers the container shipping market may recover in the fourth quarter.

Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) plans to manufacture more car parts itself rather than buying from outside suppliers as part of a bid to boost productivity, the German carmaker's head of production told a German newspaper.

The European Commission could decide to delay Oracle Corp's $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc with less than 48 hours to go before a deadline, two sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Alcatel-Lucent's research and development strengths and broad customer base make it an attractive takeover candidate for a rival, but it has to clean up its operations before a deal is likely.

Western Lithium Canada Corp said it would raise up to C$15.2 million in private placement to fund ongoing engineering and development studies for the company's lithium project in Nevada.

Canada's Superior Plus Corp said it agreed to buy Pennsylvania-based Sunoco Inc's retail heating oil and propane distribution business for about $82.5 million in cash, to expand its fuel distribution business in the United States.

Sony Ericsson, Alcatel Lucent SA and a private equity arm of JP Morgan are among the candidates shortlisted to buy Nortel Networks Corp's stake in LG-Nortel, media reported on Wednesday.

Manufacturers from several countries including the United States produced some upbeat news on Tuesday, indicating that a recovery from the deepest global downturn since World War Two is slowly gaining traction.

Las Vegas Sands Corp, the world's largest casino firm, has secured commitments to raise up to $600 million through the sale of exchangeable bonds, the company said on Wednesday.

South Africa's Treasury said it was processing an exchange control application from MTN for a proposed tie-up with India's Bharti Airtel, in the clearest indication yet that the deal is proceeding despite some shareholder opposition.

British technology firm IQE Plc forecast a significant growth in sales during the second half and beyond with trading returning to pre-recession levels, but its shares fell 11 percent as investors booked profits.

Blyth Inc swung to a second-quarter loss, hurt by restructuring and goodwill impairment charges as well as a sharp decline in sales, but the candle maker backed its full-year earnings forecast.

Auto sales in Canada fell for a 10th straight month in August, industry figures showed on Tuesday, though Ford managed to maintain the sales and market-share momentum that it gained in the middle of the industry crisis.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is in talks with Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to buy a 20 percent stake in broadcaster Rotana Media, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the deal.

Walt Disney Co's $4 billion bet on Marvel Entertainment's superheroes is at best going to take some time to pay off and at worst may have increased some risks for the entertainment behemoth.

U.S. auto sales boomed in August as $3 billion in government incentives drove sharp gains for Hyundai Motor Co and Ford Motor Co but failed to provide a boost for General Motors Co in its first full month outside bankruptcy.

Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest carmaker, will ask Japan's new government to extend the deadline for subsidies on purchases of new environmentally friendly cars by two years from the original schedule of March 2010, a Toyota executive said on Wednesday.

General Motors Co GM.UL said on Wednesday its China vehicles sales in August jumped 112.7 percent from a year earlier, paving the way for a more than 40 percent rise in sales for the full year.

Summer box office sales narrowly hit a new record in North America -- with a little help from an angry memo written by Transformers director Michael Bay.

Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch reinstated coverage of Gilead Sciences Inc with a buy rating, saying upside to consensus estimates over the next few years is likely, driven by strength in the drugmaker's HIV medicines amid few competitive threats.

Epix, the newly-formed premium movie channel, said on Wednesday it has reached an exclusive deal to carry 22 movies from independently-owned Roadside Attractions.

Global computer server sales in the second quarter continued to plunge to levels not seen in years, research firm IDC said on Tuesday, but signs of stability are appearing in a segment that analysts call a bellwether for the IT industry.