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The dollar opened the week up on the euro amid bailout plans for two key European lending institutions, as the effects of the financial crisis on Wall Street were keenly felt across the Atlantic.

The 15-nation euro slid to $1.4406 in early European trading Monday, down from the $1.4618 it bought in late New York trading Friday.

Germany’s financial regulators and several banks stepped in Monday to throw a line of credit to Hypo Real Estate Holding AG in a multibillion euro move aimed at shielding Germany’s No. 2 commercial property lender from going under.

That came a day after Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance company Fortis NV was given a $16.4 billion lifeline to avert insolvency as part of a wider bailout plan agreed to by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

"The dollar (is) finding upside off the back of the progress from the Fed’s bail out plan whilst the euro and pound are both under pressure as the credit crisis once again casts a shadow on this side of the Atlantic," said Gary Thomson, a currency trader with CMC Markets.

"With (U.K payday loans. bank) Bradford & Bingley being nationalized and Fortis being multi-nationalized, it’s a clear reminder that the problem continues to roll on and most certainly isn’t ring fenced across the Atlantic."

In other currencies, the British pound bought $1.8188, down from the $1.8426 on Friday. The dollar held largely steady against the Japanese yen to ¥106.30 from ¥106.06 Friday. 

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<<<< Nabeel Gareeb, chief executive of MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. in O’Fallon, Mo., cashed in stock options worth $77.7 million to lead all other St. Louis area executives in pay last year.

Gareeb, who has run the silicon wafer maker for nearly seven years, garnered just under $80 million in compensation, including an $850,000 salary and incentive pay of $931,600.

Gareeb’s pay was the highest found since the Post-Dispatch began examining executive pay in 1994. He was one of 13 executives whose earnings totaled more than $10 million. Gareeb’s pay was more than twice his nearest competitor.

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The Post-Dispatch uses information from regulatory filings by area companies to analyze compensation. Public stock companies are required to disclose the compensation of the top five executives who were paid at least $100,000.

The newspaper computes pay using a method developed by The Corporate Library of Portland, Maine. The company monitors corporate governance and pay nationwide. Their methodology gets closer to the compensation that the executive actually receives than the figure that companies are required to list in their proxy statements.

Total compensation includes an executive’s salary, bonus, incentive pay, the value of stock options exercised and stock awards that vested in the most recent year as well as changes in the value of pensions and other pay listed in a company’s proxy statement.

Gareeb’s salary and incentive bonus pale in comparison to his profit on stock options, the result of exercising 1.65 million stock options last year. In addition to last year’s $77.7 million gain, Gareeb exercised 1.1 million options in 2005 that netted him $18.3 million and 100,000 options in 2006 for a gain of $3.87 million.

Stock options allow executives to buy stock in the future at a price fixed when the option is issued, usually the market price of the stock when the option is given. An option has no value when it’s issued at the market price. As the stock price rises above the exercise price, the option gains value.

When Gareeb arrived at MEMC in 2001, the silicon-wafer manufacturer was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The stock hit a low of just over $3 a share in September 2002.

An outside investment group, Texas Pacific Group, had bought a controlling interest in the company and made drastic changes, including slashing MEMC’s debt, firing the previous chief executive and bringing in Gareeb.

Gareeb received an initial grant of 2.3 million options as an incentive to turn the company around in 2002. As that turnaround proceeded, the stock climbed to a high of more than $90 late last year. However, the shares have dipped below $30 recently as the market for silicon wafers softened. The wafers are used in computers, solar panels and a wide range of electronic products.

In addition to the initial option grant, Gareeb received additional grants totaling 3.45 million shares from 2003 until 2006. At the time this year’s proxy was filed, Gareeb held more than 2 million options he had yet to exercise.

Gareeb’s most recent option grant, awarded in 2006, was in "performance" options, which require him to stay with the company for four years and also require that the company’s common stock outperforms the Standard & Poor’s 500 index over the four-year period.

A report by MEMC’s compensation committee in the company’s proxy statement says options are a good way to reward executives because they have no value when they’re granted and only pay off when the company’s stock rises no teletrack payday loans. The use of performance options increases the incentive by requiring improvement over a longer period of time, the report said.

Many people who follow executive pay agree that an executive benefits from stock options only when a company’s stock does well. However, when a stock goes up for reasons unrelated to executive performance, an executive benefits regardless of his role in running the company.

Stock options and other stock awards were the biggest factor in the pay of the remaining top 10 executives in this year’s survey.

In second place was Richard M. Whiting, who left Peabody Energy Corp. late last year to head up Patriot Coal Corp., spun off by Peabody in November.

Whiting’s $33 million in pay from Peabody included $22 million in profit from stock options, many of them issued when Peabody went public in 2000. In addition, he got shares worth $10.1 million. Some of the stock was part of his termination package from Peabody.

Whiting also drew pay at Patriot, where his earnings of $250,477 consisted largely of salary and bonus awarded for two months of work. Whiting’s base salary at Patriot is $700,000. The last full year he worked at Peabody, his salary was $540,750.

Hugh Grant, chairman, president and chief executive of Monsanto Co., came in third with $23.5 million in pay, including $12.2 million in profit from options and $6.8 million in stock grants that vested last year.

Grant was among eight executives who earned salaries of $1 million or more: His $1.13 million salary was the fifth-highest in the area. He also got a "non-equity incentive" payment of $2.98 million. Non-equity incentives are bonuses, usually cash, that are based on performance.

Current Peabody executives accounted for four of the top 10 executives in pay, also thanks largely to option profits. Peabody’s stock price has risen dramatically in recent years in response to rising energy prices and demand for coal, and many executives had options before Peabody went public in 2000.

Peabody executives who ranked in the top 10 included:

•Gregory Boyce, chairman and chief executive, with total pay of $22.6 million, including $15.6 million in option profit, $4.3 million in stock and a $1 million bonus. Boyce ranked fourth among St. Louis executives.

•Richard A. Navarre, president, with $21 million in pay, including $17 million in option profits and $2.4 million in stock. He was fifth in pay here.

•Roger B. Walcott Jr., executive vice president, with $14.4 million in pay, including $12.4 million in option profit, ranking ninth.

•Sharon D. Fiehler, executive vice president, with $13.6 million in pay, including option profit of $11.6 million. Fiehler was in 10th place.

Other executives in the top 10 included:

•David N. Farr, chairman, president and chief executive of Emerson, who took in $19.9 million, including $14.1 million in stock that vested last year. Farr ranked sixth in the Post-Dispatch survey.

•George Paz, chairman, president and chief executive of Express Scripts Inc., whose $18.4 million in pay included $14.9 million in stock option profits and an incentive bonus of $2.1 million. Paz came in seventh.

•Steven F. Leer, chairman and chief executive of Arch Coal Inc., who was paid $16.5 million, including $9.7 million in stock option profits and $4.36 million in shares that vested last year. Leer was eighth.

Notably absent from the top 10 are executives of Anheuser-Busch Cos., which is being acquired by Belgian beer giant InBev. W. Randolph Baker, chief financial officer, ranked 21st with $7.3 million in pay last year, and August A. Busch IV, chief executive, came in 33rd with $4.95 million in pay.

However, the Busch executives stand to make millions more in the buyout from severance, bonuses, the acceleration of stock awards and retirement settlements.

Documents filed in August disclosed potential payouts of about $125 million for Busch IV; $75 million for Baker; $50 million for Douglas J. Muhleman, vice president of brewing and technology; and $36.5 million for Michael J. Owens, vice president of business operations.

jerristroud@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8384

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NEW YORK — A few corners of the frozen credit markets thawed a bit Monday on news of the U.S. government’s bank bailout plans, but business was hardly back to normal. And, when the dust settles, credit market participants’ lending and borrowing operations probably will be changed dramatically.

Last week, the credit markets — where the world buys and sells debt — were thrown into a tumult after a cascade of troubling events, from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings to the bailout of insurer American International Group. Over the weekend, the U.S. government said it would buy $700 billion in mortgage debt and asset-backed commercial paper from the nation’s struggling banks.

Although several credit market indicators improved Monday compared with last week, they did not show restored confidence. And they aren’t likely to for some time, said John Atkins, a fixed-income analyst at research company IDEAGlobal.com.

"For the next five years, certainly, we’re going to see a real retrenchment in risk appetite, risk extension," Atkins said.

As investors waited for more information on the bailout plan, they reacted to news that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were going to become commercial banks, and that Morgan Stanley was selling up to a 20 percent stake to Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

The status of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as commercial banks regulated by the government could force the two institutions to take on less risk going forward than they did as investment banks.

"We’ve essentially just eliminated a whole way of doing business," said Howard Simons, strategist with Bianco Research in Chicago, referring to the changes at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

That may mean that the level of lending in the credit markets may never get back to its year-ago levels. Over the last year, the asset-backed commercial paper market has shrunk from about $1.2 trillion to a little over $700 billion, according to Federal Reserve data.

To be sure, the commercial paper markets have not completely shut down; UnitedHealth Group Inc., for one, said it was able to sell commercial paper last week. And companies are relying on the market operating in the future; Microsoft Corp same day payday loans. on Monday established a $2 billion commercial paper program.

Still, the market is not functioning normally, which is a worry for corporations — particularly those who issue paper backed by assets such as mortgages.

Simons compared the credit markets’ role in the business world to the wiring in a building. You might not usually notice it, but it’s essential — and when it turns faulty, it becomes dangerous. "All of a sudden, we’re finding out those are causing the building to burn down," he said.

The credit markets are huge and diverse, so they cannot be measured as definitively as the stock market. But there are ways to monitor the willingness to lend in these markets.

One is the 3-month Treasury bill, considered one of the safest short-term investments and an alternative when other short-term debt markets are tight. As oil prices jumped and stocks tumbled on Monday, demand for the 3-month Treasury bill remained high. The yield, which moves opposite from price, was at 0.91 percent by Monday afternoon, down modestly from 0.94 percent late Friday. That means the investment will earn less than 1 percent after three months.

Another indicator is the rate on commercial paper, or the bonds that companies sell to borrow money for a short period of time, usually 30 days. Higher rates mean people are less willing to lend companies money in return for their bonds.

Richard Cantor, chief credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service, said during a conference call Monday that the ratings agency expects credit conditions to tighten in the near term for individuals and businesses, and that it is "also likely that the commercial paper market will remain challenging" for issuers for some time before returning to normal.

According to Bianco Research’s Simons, 30-day dealer commercial paper traded at a rate of 3.2 percent, the same as Friday. That rate is still well above 2.38 percent on Sept. 12, but below the rate of 3.27 percent reached last Wednesday.

Tom Murphy of The Associated Press in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

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Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is well prepared for Google’s (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) high-profile foray into the mobile phone business thanks to years of development experience and millions of phones on the market, a senior Nokia official told Reuters.

Details of Google’s plan to enter the mobile software market are expected on Tuesday when T-Mobile USA (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) displays the first phone based on Google’s Android platform in New York, sources familiar with the plan have said.

In response to Google’s impending entry into the market, world’s top cellphone maker Nokia said in June it would buy out the remaining shareholders of UK-based smartphone software maker Symbian for $410 million, then give the software to not-for-profit organization and make it royalty-free.

“I think that the fact there is a mature platform that is being introduced in an open source environment kind of changes the game,” said David Rivas, head of technology management at Nokia’s S60 business, the platform that runs on Symbian.

“The choices up until then were: You could go with proprietary and mature, or you could go with immature and free paydayloans. Now there is a choice that is free and mature,” Rivas said.

Nokia, Motorola (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Sony Ericsson (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and others will contribute assets to the not-for-profit Symbian Foundation, which unites handset makers, network operators and communications chipmakers to create an open-source platform.

Rivas pointed to the 226 million Symbian phones that had been sold by end-June, saying they gave Symbian an advantage over the new platforms of Google and Apple (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

“All developers tend at the end of the day to look for something that has impact in the context of volume,” Rivas said. 

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Alitalia (AZPIa.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) remained airborne on Saturday but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ruled out any last-minute rescue by a foreign airline and said Italy’s flag carrier could be headed for bankruptcy.

“There is no possibility of another rescue bid so it could be that our Alitalia is heading towards bankruptcy procedures,” said Berlusconi, whose attempt to rally an Italian consortium to salvage the airline tripped this week on trade union opposition.

Alitalia flights were operating normally but may be grounded in a matter of days, and the airline liquidated, if there is no last-minute reprieve for talks between trade unions and the CAI consortium, which withdrew its offer on Thursday after pilots and flight attendants refused to accept its conditions.

Suffering from high fuel prices and an economic downturn that has hit airlines globally, Alitalia has been on the brink of collapse for years as political interference and labor unrest bled it of cash and caused it to pile up debt.

The government rules out further state aid or, as some leftists propose, the denationalization of Alitalia paydayloans. Italy is already in trouble with the European Commission over a 300 million euro ($435.2 million) loan to keep the airline flying.

Berlusconi returned to power in May promising to rescue the airline, in which the state owns a 49.9 percent stake, and keep it in Italian hands. He had opposed an offer for Alitalia by Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) under the previous centre-left government.

Union chief Guglielmo Epifani suggesting Alitalia should now be “sold to a big international airline”.

NO FOREIGN INTEREST 

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NEW YORK–Morgan Stanley's stock price plunged again Thursday as the investment bank scrambled to strike a major deal or raise more cash that will assuage investors and prevent more damage to its free-falling shares.

John Mack, the No. 2 U.S. investment bank's chief executive, has reached out to China's Citic Group overnight about a possible investment, according to a person familiar with the talks. Morgan Stanley is also considering a combination with retail bank Wachovia Corp. and an investment from Singapore Investment Corp., one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were still ongoing,

Morgan Stanley shares have fallen 38 percent in the past week amid unprecedented turmoil in the global banking system. Investors remain anxious after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, Merrill Lynch & Co. was forced into a sale to Bank of America Corp. and the federal government bailed out insurer American International Group.

Mack made telephone calls late Wednesday to Wachovia executives and also to Citigroup Inc. CEO Vikram Pandit, exploring all options to help restore confidence in the investment house, the person said. Citigroup was not interested in a tie-up, but talks remain ongoing with Wachovia, he said.

Wachovia declined to comment about a potential deal, while Citigroup confirmed that Mack and Pandit spoke.

Spokesmen for GIC and Citic could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mack isn't the only CEO looking to strike some kind of a deal or capital infusion fast cash loans. Washington Mutual Inc., which has lost billions and seen its shares plummet due to subprime mortgage exposure, is selling itself or looking for a deep-pocketed investor.

And overnight in London, Britain's Lloyds TSB Lloyds TSB announced a $21.85-billion deal to take over struggling HBOS PLC, Britain's biggest mortgage lender.

The U.S. government, which helped organize an $85 billion bailout of insurer AIG on Tuesday, also sought to break the grip of worsening global credit crisis by pumping billions into financial markets in a concerted action with central banks of other countries. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in two operations, injected $55 billion into temporary reserves in the United States, a move aimed to help ease a strained financial system in danger of freezing up.

The move helped steady Wall Street after the previous session's massive rout. However, market participants still moved into safe assets such as gold and Treasury bills, a sign that they remain skittish during the most troubling period for the world's financial system in most investors' memory.

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Wall Street isn’t finished yet.

In a two-day span, Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500) filed for bankruptcy, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) snapped up Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) and American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500) received an $85 billion government loan.

On Wednesday, rumors swirled about other banks pairing up.

Washington Mutual (WM, Fortune 500) reportedly has put itself up for sale, hiring Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) to advise it. Possible suitors include JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), HSBC (HBC), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500), according to published reports.

However, a person close to the situation told CNNMoney.com that JPMorgan Chase is not bidding on WaMu.

A WaMu spokesman declined to comment on the merger reports. But the bank did say that TPG Capital, its biggest shareholder, is now allowing it to raise money or sell itself without compensating TPG. The private equity firm invested $7 billion in the struggling savings-and-loan in April.

"It became clear that it would be in the best interests of Washington Mutual and our investors to waive the price reset payment provisions that were agreed to with the bank at the time of our original investment in April 2008, TPG Capital said in a statement. "Our goal is to maximize the bank’s flexibility in this difficult market environment."

This removes a big barrier for WaMu, whose shares have tumbled over the past week as two credit rating agencies downgraded it to junk status over concerns it could not raise much-needed capital.

Meanwhile, Wachovia (WB, Fortune 500) is said to be considering a merger with Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), whose share price has been battered despite reporting better-than-expected earnings late Tuesday afternoon payday loans in 1 hour. Morgan Stanley is one of only two stand-alone investment banks left on Wall Street.

Still, Wachovia has also been hit hard by the mortgage meltdown. The company reported a $9 billion loss in the second quarter — the company’s second consecutive loss — and also slashed its dividend by 87%

Wachovia’s problems cost then CEO Ken Thompson his job in June. He was replaced a month later by Robert Steel, a former Treasury undersecretary.

Spokespeople for Citigroup, Washington Mutual, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wachovia and HSBC declined to comment. Morgan Stanley did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The flurry of activity signals the financial industry is testing the waters, said Jason Tyler, a senior vice-president at the Chicago-based Ariel Investments, which manages about $9 billion. But he cautioned that not every merger report will turn out to be true.

"You have bankers throwing rumors around trying to see how the market would react to things," Tyler said. "It is going to be impossible to tell rumor from fact for a while. We are going to hear 10 times as many rumors for every serious conversation."  

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In a promotional video for CPFilms’ automotive window film, a machine re-creates a side-impact car accident. It slams into a car that has a driving mannequin, and predictably, pebble-sized pieces of glass splatter inside and outside of the vehicle.

Yet when CPFilms’ safety and security film is applied to the inside of the side windows, the glass doesn’t fly into the car.

Instead, the broken pieces stick to the film.

For years, CPFilms — a subsidiary of Town and Country-based chemicals maker Solutia Inc. — has made solar films for automobiles. It also has made window films for houses and office buildings to protect against hurricanes and strong winds.

When CPFilms realized its authorized dealers were using the architectural film on vehicles’ windows for added protection, "we saw the need (for) offering safety film," said Andres Vasquez, the global product development manager.

After developing the product over the last three years, the company recently unveiled its LLumar Automotive Safety and Security Film. The film can be applied at any point in a vehicle’s lifetime, but it’s only being sold to a network of CPFilms-designated dealers, who then professionally install it.

Including installation fees, the product costs between $400 to $700, according to CPFilms.

The film, which is essentially layers of polyester, comes in clear and tinted versions and is applied to the interior sides of the windows. By law, windshields cannot be altered, so the film only can go on the side and rear windows.

Vehicles’ side windows have what is known as tempered glass, where the glass is crafted to shatter into pebbles instead of shards.

"But there’s still a possibility of being injured" when those pebbles fly into a car during a side-impact crash, said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit in Arlington, Va., dedicated to reducing auto-related deaths, injuries and property damages.

The film might offer some benefit, Rader said, but his group did not have any studies on the film’s effectiveness.

Stephany Davenport, the brand manager for CPFilms, said the product not only protects passengers in an accident but also offers protection against smash-and-grab vehicle break-ins.

CPFilms’ promotional video demonstrates that delay. In less than four seconds, a tester was able to smash through an unprotected window using a rock and grab a purse on the other side online payday advance. With the film installed, it took the same man more than 40 seconds to break through the film and get the purse.

"We’re not saying you can’t break it," Davenport said. "We’re saying it takes longer."

That delay, CPFilms said, draws attention to a break-in and can discourage a thief.

There are other automotive films on the market, comparable to the product by CPFilms, that provide similar safety and security protection.

CPFilms marketed the automotive film to 150 select dealers nationwide in March, and on Aug. 1, it expanded the campaign to reach more than 4,000 dealers. Most of the dealers are small businesses that specialize in window films.

The new film has been installed on at least 50 vehicles since its March launch, said Davenport, adding that the film is still in its initial marketing phase.

For many new films, Davenport added, it takes several months for dealers to promote the products.

"Like anything else, it takes a while for (consumers) to understand the product is available" and see the benefits it could provide, she said.

Local installations have been few. Some area dealers authorized to install the LLumar safety and security film said they have not received many, if any, calls for the film.

Craig Moore, owner of St. Louis Window Tinting in Chesterfield and Eureka, installed his first LLumar safety and security auto film this week — in an Acura TSX owned by Frank Leta Acura in south St. Louis County.

Frank Leta Acura decided to pay for the film on one car because "we try to display any technological advances" in the auto industry, said General Manager Steve Brown. A niche of car buyers, those looking to customize their cars and have the "latest and greatest" technology, would be interested in the film, Brown said.

Moore has initially marketed the film to automotive dealerships because "as pricey as it is, you’ll find that they’re willing to pay" for it. But despite the slow economy, he plans to eventually focus more on individual drivers. Once people are aware of the benefits, he said, there will be demand.

atablac@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8140

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A judge has approved a class-action settlement involving BJC HealthCare and uninsured patients who alleged that the area’s largest hospital system overcharged them.

The settlement was reached in March, but a few plaintiffs objected, saying the settlement was insufficient. Judge David L. Dowd approved the settlement on Friday. BJC provided a copy of the judge’s order to the Post-Dispatch today.

Under the settlement, uninsured patients who were treated at a BJC hospital since Jan. 1, 1999, and paid some or all of the bill may be eligible for a partial refund or reduction in their bill.

Class members will be notified of their right to submit a claim for a refund. The discounts will apply to uninsured patients receiving treatment until at least 2012.
The suit was one in a string filed across the nation in 2004 on behalf of patients without insurance who alleged that they were charged two to three times as much for treatment as patients with insurance cash advance. In 2007, the local lawsuit became the first of those filed in 2004 to receive class-action status.

Under the settlement, which was announced in March, all uninsured patients visiting a BJC hospital for inpatient or outpatient hospital services will receive the 25 percent "self-pay" discount. Those able to pay within 30 days will receive an additional 5 percent discount.

Patients in families earning less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $84,800 for a family of four, will continue to be eligible for additional "charity care" discounts. Patients in families earning less than 200 percent of the poverty level, or about $42,400 for a family of four, will receive care free of charge.

mjfeldstein@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8209

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American International Group Inc, thrown a $20 billion lifeline by New York state, came under renewed pressure on Tuesday as ratings agencies downgraded the insurer’s debt and the financial sector meltdown spread.

Fears that AIG, once the world’s largest insurer by market value, could be the next financial giant to tumble fuelled worries about the potential fallout.

“If AIG tanks, that will be the big one. AIG has more to do with the oil price right now than the Saudis do,” said Larry Grace, an energy analyst at Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong.

Asian share markets, many of them closed for a holiday on Monday, tumbled as investors absorbed the weekend’s dramatic events on Wall Street, where Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection and rival Merrill Lynch agreed to be sold to Bank of America for $50 billion.

Big European markets were seen opening around 3 percent lower.

Shares in AIG plunged nearly 61 percent on Monday and the U.S http://easy-quick-payday-loans.com. Federal Reserve hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to review options for the firm, a person familiar with the situation said on Monday. AIG has lost 92 percent of its value this year.

British bank Barclays Plc, which over the weekend pulled out of rescue talks for Lehman, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to be in talks to buy large portions of Lehman.

“We do not comment on market rumors,” said Angie Tang, a Barclays spokeswoman in Hong Kong. 

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