Dutch electronics group Philips on Monday announced that 4,500 jobs will have to be cut “inevitably” to help restore earnings after 3Q11 profits dropped to a two-year low, as demonstrators in London continued a sit-in at the London Stock Exchange. Net profit for the three months to the end of September decreased to €74m, down from €524 in 2010, while revenues declined 1.3 percent to €5.39bn. Plummeting profit were due to falling sales, losses at its TV joint venture, weaker demand for consumer products and an increase in raw material prices. The group is now taking steps to attain its 2013 mid-term financial targets which include a four to six percent sales growth and an EBITA of between 10 and 12 percent. Philips CEO, Frans van Houten, said: “We are not yet satisfied with our current financial performance given the ongoing economic challenges, especially in Europe, and operational issues and risks. We do not expect to realise a material performance improvement in the near term. We are taking the right steps to achieve our 2013 mid-term financial targets.” Meanwhile, the anti-capitalist protests are set to continue at the LSE.

Standard & Poor’s late on Thursday slashed Spain’s credit rating one notch to AA- with a negative outlook from AA, citing economic woes. The lowering of Spain’s long term rating reflects its uncertain growth prospects in light of the private sector’s need to access fresh financing to roll over high levels of external debt amid rising funding costs, the rating agency said in a statement. The financial profile of the country’s banking system will weaken further due to stock of problematic assets rising further, according to the assessment. Standard & Poor’s recently revised its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment on Spain to group four from group three.

China’s trade surplus shrank for a second straight month in September to $14.5bn. Trade data published on Thursday showed September’s figures were $3.3bn lower than the $17.8bn in August and had reduced by more than half from the $31.5bn figure recorded in July. September’s imports rose 20.9 percent compared with 30.2 percent in August, and exports increased by only 17.1 percent contrasted with a 24.5 percent gain in August. The slowdown was especially obvious in china’s trade with Europe where exports increased only by 9.8 percent compared with 22.3 percent in August. Despite the slowing growth, China’s imports and exports have now recorded unprecedented highs with exports reaching $169.6bn and imports rising to $155.1bn. On the other side of the planet, the outrage that spread through Europe, the Middle East, and South America surrounding the breakdown in BlackBerry services, has made its way to North America, where sporadic service blackouts have affected both the United States and Canada. RIM, the company behind BlackBerry, has said it is working “day and night” to eradicate the problem.

Brazil saw retail sales volumes drop 0.4 percent from a month earlier indication a slowdown as South America’s largest economy continues to struggle with rising inflation, the Brazilian Institute of geography and Statistics announced late on Tuesday. Sales in August were up 6.2 percent year-on-year but nonetheless produced the second most sluggish growth rate since September 2009. It was the first recorded volume decline since a 0.2 percent drop in April. Only two of Brazil’s ten activities that make up the retail trade reported positive growth. Vehicles, fabric and apparel, construction material, cosmetics and furniture appliances reported the largest decrease. Meanwhile, the Occupy Wall Street campaign has grown into a global movement and continues to attract tens of thousands of protestors marching against the current political and economic system. What started with a group of around 1,000 people walking through the streets of New York has turned into an international appeal for an end to taxpayer bailouts and for political leaders to accept accountability and responsibility for their action.

The royal family of Qatar is moving up its investment in Europe’s banking sector with plans to acquire private banking arms of Dexia and its Belgian competitor KBC. Private lender KBC said it was to sell its Luxembourg division to Qatari investment group Precision Capital for €1.05bn. The sale will allow the bank to reduce its risk profile, raise capital and permit it to focus on its central and eastern European markets. Luxembourg’s finance minister Luc Frieden said late on Monday that the Qatari investment group, which is now to take over Dexia’s Banque Internationale Luxembourg, belongs to the al-Thani royal family. The al Thani’s, who are known also for their sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority, have previously invested in European banks at the end of 2008 when they helped raise emergency funds for Barclays bank.