Reuters - Allianz beat expectations with a 29 percent fall in net profit to 1.524 billion euros ($2.36 billion) in the second quarter, despite losses at Dresdner Bank, but said it was abandoning its 2009 profit goal in face of difficult markets.

Reuters - Avis Budget Group Inc , a provider of vehicle rental services, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and said it was cutting jobs and reducing its fleet size to tackle the challenging travel environment, sending its shares up as much as 9 percent.

Reuters - American International Group Inc posted its third consecutive quarterly net loss of more than $5 billion on Wednesday as it wrote down bad mortgage-related investments, sending its shares down almost 8 percent.

AP - Toyota's fiscal first-quarter profit plunged 28 percent from the previous year as slipping North American sales, a strong yen and rising material costs dented the earnings of the Japanese automaker.

AFP - Austrian oil and gas giant OMV reported on Wednesday a record net profit of 1.13 billion euros (1.748 billion dollars) in the first half of 2008, up 52 percent from the equivalent figure last year as oil prices remained high despite a weak dollar.

Reuters - Ambac Financial Group , a bond insurer, said on Wednesday that second-quarter earnings rose sharply, helped by valuation gains on credit derivatives.

Reuters - Freddie Mac on Wednesday posted its fourth straight quarterly loss as it braced for a prolonged housing crisis by setting aside twice as much money for bad loans and plans to slash its dividend by at least 80 percent.

Reuters - Time Warner Inc said it would split AOL's dial-up Internet and advertising businesses into separate divisions by early 2009, a move that could ease a sale or merger of either business.