United States

Chrysler Canada Inc has warned that it could shift production from two of its plants in Ontario to the United States, cutting more than 8,000 Canadian jobs, if it fails to get the C$1.6 billion ($1.27 billion) it needs in emergency aid from the federal and provincial governments, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Tuesday.

German biodiesel producer Campa GmbH has declared insolvency for a second time this year and a commercial court in Wurzburg appointed a new administrator, a court official said on Tuesday. Campa first declared insolvency in May but resumed production in early June after being bought by a consortium of about 2,000 farmers in the southern state of Bavaria, Reuters reported. It operates a 150,000 tonne annual capacity plant producing biodiesel from rapeseed oil. Campa's oil mill was purchased by U.S. agribusiness group Archer Daniels Midland in August.

Centro Properties Group, the owner of 794 shopping malls in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, is continuing talks with lenders to extend more than $4.5 billion of borrowings by Dec. 15 after failing to raise new capital, Bloomberg reported. The real estate investment trust may have to go into receivership unless creditors including Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. and National Australia Bank Ltd. agree to roll over loans, Melbourne-based Centro said today in a statement.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela are taking a wait-and-see posture on aid to the auto industries that power both economies, while closely watching moves in the United States, the leaders said following a summit in the northern port of Trieste on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. Automakers have been calling for aid to help them weather the slide in demand with the global financial crisis--while the United States considers a bailout for Detroit's General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.

Brazil's important ethanol sector took a hit Friday after a major producer revealed that it filed court papers seeking protection from creditors while it restructures $100 million in debt, the Associated Press reported. Companhia Albertina sought the protection similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization used in the United States but will continue operating, said Gabriel Andrade, an investment banker with Sao Paulo's Arsenal Investments who is advising the company. It appeared to be the first sign of trouble for an ethanol producer since the credit crisis hit the planet hard.

Japan, the world's second-largest economy, has fallen into recession, the government said Monday. The country's gross domestic product contracted at an annual rate of 0.4 percent from July to September, marking the second consecutive quarter of negative growth, the Washington Post reported today. Japan's economy minister warned that the situation could worsen: Collapsing sales of Japanese goods in the United States and Europe amid the global downturn threaten to make the country's export-dependent economy even weaker in coming months.

UBS suffered its heaviest blow yet in the investigation into its offshore banking activities for rich American clients as US authorities said they had indicted Raoul Weil, the Swiss bank’s head of global wealth management, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

Storm Cat Energy Corporation announced that all of its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiaries filed for a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, the International Business Times reported today. Storm Cat Energy Corporation was not included in the U.S. bankruptcy filing, nor did it file an application for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada. Storm Cat is in negotiations with its existing lenders to secure sufficient debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing.

Seoul shares slipped 2 percent on Tuesday as demand worries following a bankruptcy filing by a major U.S. electronics retailer sent tech exporters such as LG Electronics lower, Reuters reported yesterday. Banks also fell on jitters about funding difficulties and rising bad debt. The United States is South Korea's second-biggest export market. Appliance and mobile phone maker LG Electronics dropped 6.99 percent and LG Display, a maker of flat screens for TVs and computers, declined 6.46 percent. Hynix, which produces chips used in computers and consumer electronics, fell 8.52 percent.