AFP - UK blue chips closed higher on Tuesday, supported by gains from banks and miners and by hopes a spike in UK CPI may be temporary, but the FTSE 100 index ended well off the session peak as Wall Street fell back after poor US PPI data.

Reuters - Stocks dropped sharply on Wednesday, with the Dow slipping below 12,000 for the first time since March 18, when the market was reeling from the collapse of Bear Stearns.

Reuters - Delta Air Lines on Wednesday said it expected to post a profit in the second quarter, excluding special items, and plans to cut its domestic capacity by 13 percent in the second half of 2008

Reuters - Package delivery company FedEx Corp posted a quarterly loss on Wednesday due to high fuel prices, a weak U.S. economy and a previously announced write-down, and issued a weak forecast for fiscal 2009.

Reuters - U.S. auditors urged the Air Force Wednesday to rerun its marathon, $35 billion competition for refueling aircraft, upholding a protest by losing bidder Boeing Co .

Reuters - Hennes & Mauritz (HMb.ST), the world's third-biggest clothing retailer by sales, posted second-quarter pretax profits and May sales above market expectations on Wednesday, helped by a weak U.S. dollar and good weather.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc has offered early retirement to the 1,350 employees of its Japanese consumer finance unit, as the subprime-hit U.S. bank retreats from consumer lending in the world's second-largest economy.

AFP - China Everbright Bank said on Tuesday that it had applied to float on the country's local currency denominated A-share stock market.

Reuters - Activist investor Olivant has raised its stake in Swiss bank UBS to 2.5 percent and said on Wednesday it had fully supported the recent rights issue.

Reuters - A forward-looking measure of U.S. non-residential construction activity weakened last month but remains above a record low reached in March, an architects' trade group said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it had purchased privately held digital television advertising technology company Navic Networks.

Reuters - Movie studio DreamWorks SKG is close to a deal with India's Reliance ADA Group to form a new movie venture, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the talks.