COMPANIES

Credit Suisse said third-quarter profit at its investment bank was all but wiped out by writedowns, leading to a 31 percent fall in group net earnings to 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.12 billion).

AvalonBay Communities Inc.'s third-quarter net income rose sharply to $128.8 million, or $1.58 a share, from $42.1 million, or 53 cents a share, a year earlier.

Indexes tracking mining and metals shares rallied on Wednesday. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index surged 4.1% at 188.09 points. The CBOE Gold Index rose 3.5% at 190.18 points and the Amex Gold Bugs Index rallied 3.8% at 435.08 points.

In the UK the Competition Commission has released an initial report on the groceries industry saying that “the UK groceries market is delivering a good deal for consumers.”

U.S. auto sales are expected to have dipped slightly in October, as stepped-up incentive spending by automakers could not totally offset the drag from continued turmoil in the U.S. housing market, analysts said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Wednesday it will begin offering this week the type of holiday discounts it typically reserves for Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving that typically marks the start of the ultra-competitive holiday shopping season. Wal-Mart has said it intends to be aggressive this holiday season to boost sales at its U.S. stores.

Merger advisory firm Lazard Ltd said on Wednesday that third-quarter earnings more than doubled, beating expectations, on record fees from completed transactions and continued growth in its asset management arm.

MasterCard Inc said on Wednesday that quarterly earnings rose 63 percent, helped by rising spending volume and the sale of part of its stake in a Brazilian credit and debit card network.

Financial markets will take a few more months to recover from the credit crisis but the global economy was likely to withstand the shock, Standard Chartered Bank's Mervyn Davies said on Wednesday.

Deutsche Bank warned on Wednesday its biggest money spinner, investment banking, would stay sluggish after a global market crunch pushed the business into the red for first time in half a decade.

Bombardier Inc said on Wednesday that its Chinese joint venture received an order for 640 high-speed train cars from the Chinese Ministry of Railways.

India's Ranbaxy Laboratories may get a strategic partner for its research unit that will be listed next year, and expects deals to sell products of global firms in emerging markets, its chief executive said.

Taiwan's stock exchange is in talks with major bourses in New York and Germany, seeking to boost its profile abroad through tie-ups with major global players, its chairman said on Wednesday.

The impact of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has been limited in Asia and will be limited because of ample cash in the region's banking systems, a top Citigroup official said on Wednesday.

Citigroup Inc said on Wednesday it has signed an agreement to acquire all of Nikko Cordial Corp, Japan's third-largest brokerage, paying about $4.6 billion for the 32 percent it does not already own.

An investor lawsuit has been filed against Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, contending that the company issued false and misleading statements about its exposure to risky mortgage investments, the plaintiffs' lawyers said on Tuesday.

Contract talks between Ford Motor Co and the United Auto Workers union broke off in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a marathon session that began Tuesday morning, a source familiar with the talks said.

Merrill Lynch agreed to a retirement package with its embattled Chairman and chief executive Stan O’Neal less than a week after the company posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, giving him $161.5 million in stock and benefits, but no bonus for 2007.

The rapid fall of Stanley O'Neal from the helm of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc has left investors wondering who else in the banking industry may pay a price for the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.

Procter & Gamble Co on Tuesday posted a 14 percent increase in profit, but its shares fell 4 percent as its outlook for the rest of the year disappointed analysts, who also raised concern about its beauty business.

Merrill Lynch & Co Inc ousted Chairman and Chief Executive Stan O'Neal on Tuesday, just days after reporting the biggest quarterly loss in the company's history, making him the highest-ranking casualty in the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Board member Alberto Cribiore will be interim chairman while day-to-day operations will be overseen by the firm's co-presidents, Ahmass Fakahany and Greg Fleming.

Japan's Resona Holdings Inc said on Tuesday it would likely beat its first-half profit forecast by 20 percent, helped by strong commissions and lower credit costs, and said it had no direct exposure to the troubled U.S. subprime mortgage market.

Indian No. 2 listed real estate firm Unitech Ltd said on Tuesday its consolidated quarterly profit quadrupled as it sold more houses and commercial properties in the booming economy.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, Japan's largest bank, said it would write down the value of subprime-related investments by as much as 30 billion yen ($260 million) -- six times more than previously announced.

Shares in Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd plunged 12 percent -- their biggest one-day fall in 20 years -- after U.S. authorities recommended it stop some trials of cholesterol-lowering TAK-475, one of its most promising drug candidates.

HSBC Holdings Plc helped start a group of indexes that includes benchmarks for global Islamic and Middle East conventional bonds to encourage trading as a global credit crunch delays sales and doubles spreads.

Sun Life Financial Inc's third-quarter earnings rose a slightly better-than-expected 7 percent, driven by its U.S. life, mutual funds and employee benefit businesses and despite a stronger Canadian dollar, the company said on Tuesday.

UBS AG reported its first quarterly loss in five years after hefty writedowns on subprime-related investments, but said it expects to turn in a group profit in the last quarter.

U.S. State Department investigators looking into the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad last month offered immunity deals to Blackwater security guards, The New York Times reported on Monday.