COMPANIES

Wall Street bank Bear Stearns Cos, which is building up its business outside the United States, has appointed John Moore, co-head of fixed income for Europe, to be its chief executive for Asia.

Bourse owner and operator OMX said on Wednesday it had sent questions to Borse Dubai about Borse Dubai's $4.0 billion bid for the company, which topped an agreed $3.7 billion deal with Nasdaq.

British bank Barclays has no plans to walk away from the battle for ABN AMRO despite a growing gap between its bid and a competing offer, sources close to the matter said on Wednesday.

Subprime auto lender Triad Financial Corp., partly owned by Goldman Sachs, plans to cut 124 jobs in California next month, according to a notice filed with that state's department of labor.

Altria Group said on Wednesday it plans to spin off its international tobacco unit but will not give details on the timing on the much anticipated move until January. The spinoff is the second in a corporate restructuring that has seen Altria spin off its Kraft Foods Inc holdings.

Upscale home furnishings retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday on an improvement at its Pottery Barn chain, sending its shares up as much as 11 percent.

London-listed Central African Mining & Exploration launched a formal offer for Katanga Mining Ltd on Wednesday, but Katanga Chief Executive Arthur Ditto said he was not interested.

Basis Yield Alpha Fund, a hedge fund specializing in corporate and structured credit, on Wednesday filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States amid mounting losses from U.S. subprime mortgage assets, court papers show.

DaimlerChrysler left investors guessing about plans to return excess cash to shareholders as the German carmaker reported second-quarter operating profits on Wednesday in line with market expectations.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group is in talks to buy a minority stake in Italy's No. 2 fixed-line phone operator Wind, two years after it lost out in a bid battle for the company, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

New evidence of damage wrought by the U.S. mortgage sector surfaced in the United States and Europe on Wednesday while banks demanded a record amount of cash at a euro zone money market auction.

Chrysler LLC has proposed shedding non-core assets in contract talks with the United Auto Workers, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition. The car maker has proposed shutting down or selling its Mopar unit, a maker of high-performance and specialty auto parts, and Chrysler Transport, which manages deliveries of supplies to Chrysler plants.

Korean National Oil Company (KNOC) will buy 20 percent in Azerbaijan's undeveloped INAM oil project from Royal Dutch Shell, stepping up its push in the Caspian Sea, the Azeri energy minister said on Tuesday.

CIT Group Inc, the consumer and commercial finance company, on Tuesday said it has closed its mortgage lending operations, the latest to abandon the sector amid difficult market conditions.

Wall Street should keep its eye on a little-known coterie of investment companies run by European banks called structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, which are having a tough time raising short-term funding.

One week into the Federal Reserve's effort to grease the rusty wheels of the U.S. credit system, Wall Street is wondering just who needs the money because there's no line at the window.

The multi-billion-dollar market for securitized student loan debt, a financial mainstay supporting U.S. higher education, is facing new stresses as Congress moves to reshape the troubled student loan industry.

Home Depot Inc said on Tuesday it agreed to cut the price of its supply division sale to buyout firms by $1.8 billion, as a housing market drop and a credit crunch forced all sides to renegotiate. As part of the new agreement, Bain Capital Partners, The Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice will pay $8.5 billion for the division.

Holders of about 8 million shares in Magna International class A stock, or about 8 percent of the total outstanding, have confirmed they voted against a plan to sell 20 percent of the auto-parts maker to a Russian billionaire, the Globe and Mail newspaper said.

Pharmacy-benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc. said on Tuesday it agreed to buy PolyMedica Corp. for $1.2 billion, in a move to expand its diabetes care services.

Institutional money manager State Street Corp faces $22 billion exposure to asset-backed commercial paper conduits, the off-balance sheet vehicles that have caused problems for rivals in recent weeks, British newspaper The Times reported.

NYSE Euronext and Australia's ASX Ltd may be interested in buying part of Nasdaq Stock Market Inc's 31 percent stake in London Stock Exchange Plc, a person familiar with the matter said.

Procter & Gamble Co said on Monday it sued Kraft Foods Inc. because it claims a new plastic container for Kraft's Maxwell House coffee infringes a patent for P&G's Folgers coffee.

U.S. aviation authorities have ordered emergency inspections of newer model Boeing Co. 737 jetliners in response to last week's explosion and fire that destroyed a China Airlines plane in Japan, officials said on Monday.

Citigroup Inc is combining two groups of traders focused on global credit markets, which have been in turmoil this month.

Restaurant company Dunkin' Brands Inc. said on Monday that all menu offerings in its Dunkin' Donuts restaurants will have zero grams of artery clogging trans fat by October 15 this year.

The world's biggest casino opens in Macau on Tuesday, the most ambitious throw of the dice yet in a $24 billion effort to build a Las Vegas-style neon alley in this once-sleazy Chinese gambling enclave.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is hiring middle-management level executives to help evaluate the type of stores that it operates ahead of the arrival of British grocery Tesco to the United States.

Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden, who is seeking three seats on H&R Block Inc's board of directors, said on Monday three more shareholder advisory firms have backed his slate of candidates.