Shanghai Auto tie-up may create Chinese car champion

(Reuters) - Shanghai Automotive Co. said on Friday that parent groups of the two companies had signed a letter of intent to discuss ways of achieving a "complete union" between the firms through business cooperation and restructuring.




China's central government and local authorities are pushing the tie-up as a way to build Shanghai Auto into a comprehensive auto maker that can compete with European, Japanese and U.S. giants at home and eventually overseas, industry sources and analysts said.


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France's Renault, India's Bajaj in initial talks

(Reuters) - "If concluded favourably, this could lead to a long-term
partnership between Renault and Bajaj for the development of the
business so conceived," it said.




On Thursday, a Renault spokeswoman said the company had
contacted Bajaj about a $3,000 car but no decision had been
taken.


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U.S. Stocks Drop, Giving S&P 500 Worst Weekly Loss Since 2002; Alcoa Falls

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks tumbled, giving the
Standard & Poor's 500 Index its steepest weekly drop in 4 1/2
years, after turmoil among borrowers prompted investors to flee
riskier assets.

The S&P 500 lost the most since September 2002, while the
Dow Jones Industrial Average's weekly slump was the biggest since
March 2003. Chrysler and Alliance Boots Plc failed to find buyers
for $20 billion of buyout loans, fueling concern the engine that
drove stocks to all-time highs -- a record pace of takeovers --
will sputter.


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UPDATE 1-GE finds improper revenue booking at rail unit

(Reuters) - In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, GE said it discovered the improprieties after the
SEC requested information into transactions at the rail unit
between 2000 and 2003.




"Revenues had been inappropriately accelerated so that they
were recognized in the fourth quarter of each of the years 2000
through 2003 rather than in the first quarter of the following
year," the company said in an SEC filing.


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Mexican stocks rebound after heavy losses

(Reuters) - The benchmark IPC stock index added 1.27 percent to
reach 30,371 points in late afternoon trading.




The peso firmed 0.28 percent to close at
10.96 per dollar after the Mexican central bank kept interest
rates steady at a monthly monetary policy review.


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Analysts undecided on GAP CEO with no apparel ties

(Reuters) - Concerns that incoming chief executive Glenn Murphy lacks apparel experience were high in the minds of apparel analysts on Friday. Still, shares of Gap rose nearly 5 percent in afternoon trade, helped by Citigroup raising the company's stock rating to "buy" from "hold."




On Thursday, Gap said it had appointed Murphy, a 45-year-old Canadian who most recently served as CEO of Toronto-based Shoppers Drug Mart to lead the operator of the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic clothing chains.


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Lululemon stock jumps 50 pct in eagerly awaited IPO

(Reuters) - "A lot of people are clamoring for the shares," said Accountability Research Corp. analyst Mark Rosen in an interview.




"It's a name people recognize and see as trendy. And it has such a high-growth profile to it, that there's a lot of excitement."


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