BARCLAYS TAKES $800M PROVISION RELATED TO FOREX PROBES

Barclays reported a fresh legal provision related to investigations into the alleged manipulation of the foreign-exchange market, weighing down what was otherwise a brighter quarterly performance.

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL POSTS RISE IN PROFIT

Royal Dutch Shell reports a rise in third-quarter earnings, with increases in both upstream and downstream, despite falling oil prices.

AUSTRIAN LENDER TO SELL NETWORK TO ADVENT INTERNATIONAL

Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International decided to sell its southeastern European network to the private-equity firm Advent International. The network comprises six banking units in five countries and assets of around $10.69 billion.

TIME WARNER CABLE PROFIT DROPS AS SUBSCRIPTIONS WANE

Time Warner Cable, still awaiting regulatory approval for its deal to be bought by larger peer Comcast, said its 3Q profit fell 6% to $499 million, missing Wall Street expectations as the company lost subscribers.

VALE SWINGS TO SURPRISE LOSS

Brazilian mining giant Vale SA surprised investors by coughing up a net loss of $1.44 billion in the third quarter due a sharp depreciation in the local currency and the lowest iron-ore prices since 2010.

LENOVO COMPLETES MOTOROLA ACQUISITION

Lenovo Group said it has completed its $2.91 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, as the world's largest personal-computer maker continues its expansion in the global smartphone market.

AVIVA: U.K. BANKS SELL INSURANCE AGAIN

British banks have tentatively started selling insurance again in their branches for the first time since the start of a GBP21 billion ($33.63 billion) consumer mis-selling scandal.

VOLKSWAGEN PROFIT RISES

Volkswagen reported a sharply higher profit and steady sales growth in the three months to the end of September, beating analysts' forecasts and reaffirming it is on track reach its target of 10 million vehicles sales this year.

SABADELL'S THIRD-QUARTER PROFIT SOARS

Banco de Sabadell says that net profit rose 56% from a year earlier, even as the bank set aside more provisions to cover soured loans.

CIGNA RAISES OUTLOOK AS RESULTS EXCEED EXPECTATIONS

Cigna's 2Q profit fell to $534 million, even as total operating revenue, which includes net investment income and mail-order pharmacy revenue, improved 8.7% to $8.73 billion. The firm again raised its guidance.

TOSHIBA, FUJITSU, NEC SQUEEZE OUT PROFIT

Three of Japan's biggest electronics companies reported modest earnings gains for the first half of the financial year ending March, helped by the yen's weakness and restructuring, but held back by a soft domestic economy.

ALCATEL-LUCENT NARROWS LOSSES

Network-equipment company Alcatel-Lucent SA narrowed its loss in the third quarter to EUR18 million and reduced the amount of cash it burns after wrestling down costs.

BT QUARTERLY EARNINGS FALLS

BT records a fall in quarterly earnings, hit by restructuring costs and lower revenue from business and wholesale services.

LUFTHANSA LOWERS 2015 EARNINGS OUTLOOK

Lufthansa says that it wouldn't meet its already reduced earnings targets for next year because of a weaker global economic outlook, but confirmed its 2014 targets.

BAYER RAISES EARNINGS FORECAST

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG raised its full-year earnings forecast as it reported a 13% rise in third-quarter net profit, boosted by strong growth in its health-care and crop-science divisions.

HYUNDAI HEAVY POSTS WORST LOSS ON RECORD

South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. posted its worst quarterly loss to date, hurt by massive provisions against delayed projects and a stronger local currency amid a slowdown in the global shipbuilding industry.

GE MULLS STAKE SALE OF KOREA FINANCE VENTURES

General Electric Co. is in early-stage talks to sell its stakes likely worth more than $1 billion in its South Korean auto-financing and credit-card businesses.

ASTRAZENECA APPROVED FOR DIABETES TREATMENT

British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC said it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Xigduo XR as a daily treatment for type 2 diabetes.

LINDE ISSUES PROFIT WARNING AFTER WRITE-DOWNS

Industrial-gases group Linde issues a profit warning saying it would miss key targets this year because of impairments and adverse currency effects.

DANSKE BANK 3Q NET PROFIT SURGE

Danish lender Danske Bank reports a surge in net profit driven by higher revenues and lower impairment charges and raised its prediction for full-year net profit.

SAMSUNG, APPLE LOSE TO CHINA SMARTPHONE MAKERS

The erosion of Samsung's and Apple's dominance of the global smartphone market accelerated during the third quarter, as Chinese makers of low-cost phones continued to undercut the industry leaders.

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS 3RD QUARTER PROFIT FALLS SHARPLY

Samsung Electronics on Thursday posted a sharply lower third-quarter net profit as its mobile business continued to lose ground to low-cost Chinese smartphone makers.