Stock sale

  Merrill Lynch & Co, the third- biggest US securities firm, will sell $8.5 billion of stock and liquidate $30.6 billion of bonds at a fifth of their face value to shore up credit ratings imperiled by mortgage losses.

  Temasek Holdings Pte, the Singapore-owned fund that became Merrill's biggest investor by acquiring shares in December, will buy $3.4 billion of the new stock, Merrill said.

Lear tumbles

  Lear Corp, the world's second- largest maker of automotive seats, said quarterly earnings fell 85 percent on lower auto production in North America and rising commodities prices.

  Second-quarter net income declined to $18.3 million, or 23 cents a share, from $123.6 million, or $1.58, a year earlier, the Southfield, Michigan-based company said yesterday. Sales slid 4.2 percent to $3.98 billion.

Shares slide

  Stocks in Europe and Asia fell on concern credit losses will worsen and the economic slowdown will cut earnings.

  The MSCI World lost 0.5 percent to 1,339.79 at 12:17 pm in London, declining for a fourth day. India's Sensitive Index dropped 3.9 percent, the biggest retreat among 87 indexes tracked by Bloomberg worldwide.

Alitalia warning

  Alitalia SpA, the unprofitable state-controlled carrier Italy is seeking to sell, could run out of cash as soon as next year, Citigroup Inc said.

  The 300 million-euro financial lifeline the Italian government granted the Rome-based airline in April "should help Alitalia survive to the end of 2008, but could be insufficient from 2009 onwards", Citigroup analysts led by Andrew Light wrote in a report.

BP's Q2 boost

  BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, said second-quarter earnings rose 28 percent as crude surged to a record and natural-gas prices increased.

Net income advanced to $9.47 billion, or 49.80 cents a share, from $7.38 billion, or 38.18 cents, a year earlier, the London-based company said.

Auto-parts firm rises

  Hyundai Mobis Co, South Korea's biggest auto-parts maker, boosted second-quarter profit 29 percent after selling more components to affiliates Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp.

  Net income rose to a record 316.1 billion won ($313 million) from 244.8 billion won a year earlier, Seoul-based Mobis said.