AFP - Europe's leading stock exchanges fell on Wednesday after Wall Street had closed lower overnight, dragged down by concern over falling oil prices.

Reuters - Major U.S. retailers are expected to post softer August sales as consumers spent less on back-to-school items, with the results helping to set analysts' expectations for the all-important holiday season.

Reuters - The U.S. service sector likely shrank modestly in August, as a pullback in consumer spending pinched retailers and other non-manufacturing industries for a second straight month.

Reuters - Boeing Co's largest labor union said its members rejected the plane maker's contract offer and voted to strike, but the union agreed to postpone a walkout for 48 hours to allow more time for negotiations.

Reuters - Global equities stabilized on Thursday after hitting a two-year low while the dollar trimmed recent gains ahead of European interest rate decisions and the British pound touched a trade-weighted 12-year low.

Reuters - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) said it has no plans to invest in U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers , rejecting a media report that it may bid for a stake.

Reuters - Economic activity has been slow across most of the United States in recent weeks, but there has been some relief from high commodity and energy prices, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Stocks slipped in choppy trade on Wednesday as signs of increasingly sluggish growth in the world economy left investors worried about the outlook for consumer spending and corporate profits.

Reuters - GMAC LLC said on Wednesday it plans to cut 5,000 jobs at its Residential Capital LLC mortgage unit, or 60 percent of that work force, and shut its 200 GMAC Mortgage retail offices to combat persistently weak housing and credit markets.

Reuters - General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co posted double-digit declines in U.S. vehicle sales on Wednesday as uncertain economic conditions undercut a renewed incentives push by Detroit automakers and deepened an industry slowdown.

AP - In a bid to pull hesitant shoppers into their stores, retailers are slashing prices on everything from jeans to dinnerware. But those fat discounts will likely come at a big cost for the companies.

Reuters - Oil dropped more than $1 to below $109 on Wednesday, deepening this week's sharp fall as traders looked past Hurricane Gustav to focus on a wobbly global economy and the gloomy outlook for energy demand.