In the newspapers, the Wall Street Journal wrote overnight that Ford (F) is looking to cut its production of Volvos. The move could impact 1/3 of the workers at one of Ford's two Volvo plants in Europe. The Wall Street Journal was positive on Westpac (WBK) overnight, noting that Westpac's subprime exposure is low when compared with many international banks. The article said that although Australian credit growth is expected to slow, banks in the country are not reporting any systemic signs of stress in their loan books According to the Financial Times, Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBS) plan to link their private stock trading operations. The move is aimed at improving liquidity. The Telegraph looked at the possibility of Barclays (BCS) launching a large rights issue with the purpose of both improving its capital position and funding an acquisition. The article said that the firm may target Lehman (LEH) or UBS (UBS). Some sources, according to the article, believe that Barclays may try to acquire an investment bank Financieele Dagblad wrote overnight that Deutsche Bank (DB) and BNP Paribas [BNP.FR] are interested in buying ABN assets that Fortis [FORB.BE] must sell.

In energy news overnight, President Bush signed a measure to halt oil shipments to SPR (as expected). The Times looked at Iraq's oil reserves noting that Iraq's Deputy PM said that new exploration showed that the country has the world's largest proven oil reserves, with as much as 350B barrels. The IEA's Birol said overnight that the oil market will remain tight for a few years.