Top Stories

Stocks in Europe Drop for Third Week in Longest Losing Streak Since March European stocks dropped for a third straight week, the longest stretch of losses since March, as concern mounted that the economy won’t recover soon.

British Air Extends Capacity Cuts, Grounds Planes, Delays A380 Deliveries British Airways Plc, Europe’s third- largest airline, will extend capacity reductions, ground planes and delay deliveries of superjumbo aircraft as demand for air travel shows scant signs of rebounding amid the recession.

BT Plans to Offer Workers Leave on Reduced Pay in Effort to Avoid Job Cuts BT Group Plc, the largest U.K. phone company, is to offer some of its employees time off in return for salary reductions as part of a drive to cut costs.

Rothschild's Profit Will Decline on Lower Asset-Management Fees, CEO Says La Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothschild’s profit will fall this year on lower fees from assets under management, said Chief Executive Officer Michel Cicurel.

European Union Calls for Clearinghouses for Over-The-Counter Derivatives The European Union called for the use of clearinghouses for some over-the-counter derivative trades to “ensure they do not harm financial stability” as part of a response to the global economic crisis.

CNPC, Cnooc Said to Seek $14.5 Billion Stake in Repsol's Argentinean Unit Repsol YPF SA is in talks with China National Petroleum Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp. about a sale of a stake in its Argentinean unit, three people familiar with the discussions said.

Exclusive

Treasury Debt-Purchase Plan May Be Smaller Than Anticipated at $20 Billion The U.S. Treasury Department may begin its program to spur purchases of mortgage-backed securities from banks with about $20 billion in public and private money, down from as much as $100 billion when it was announced in March, two people familiar with the matter said.

ThyssenKrupp Said to Abandon Sale of Unit After Potential Buyers Pull Out ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s largest steelmaker, scrapped the sale of an industrial services unit as part of a 1 billion-euro ($1.4 billion) disposal of assets after buyers pulled out, people familiar with the situation said.

Wiedeking Era at Porsche Runs on Fumes as Volkswagen Takeover Backfires Wendelin Wiedeking, hailed as “the man who outfoxed the market” by Fortune magazine in January, is fighting to save Porsche SE -- and his job -- as a strategy to take over Volkswagen AG unravels.

Australia Facing `Full Brunt' of Global Recession as Exports, Lending Drop Australia’s economy, which has so far skirted the global recession, may stall after reports showed exports dropped to a 14-month low, bank lending fell and home- building approvals declined by the most since 2002.

Escada Is Optimistic of Rescue as Dressmaker Suffers, CEO Saelzer Says Escada AG Chief Executive Officer Bruno Saelzer said he’s optimistic investors will back a refinancing plan and avert insolvency at the German dressmaker whose celebrity clients include actress Katie Holmes.

Halabi Companies Fail to Fix $1.9 Billion Commercial Mortgage Bond Default Investor Simon Halabi’s real-estate companies failed to remedy a default on 1.15 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) of commercial mortgage bonds at a time when, according to Fitch Ratings, “pretty much” all such European deals would breach loan-to-value conditions if they were tested.