In the UK election, the Tories are on course to be largest party but set to fall short of majority, as David Cameron's party fails to take many key target seats. Labour is pushing to form coalition with Lib Dems. The latest polls (at 6.00am) suggest the Tories will end up with 309 seats, Labour on 259 and the Lib Dems on 54, the Telegraph reports.Wall Street suffered one of its worst falls in a single trading session yesterday, amid mounting concerns that the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone will spread beyond Greece. In one of the most action-packed sessions in memory, the Dow Jones industrial average fell by 500 points in a matter of seconds. Representatives of major US exchanges and the Securities and Exchange Commission convened an emergency conference call late last night to examine potentially erroneous trades in multiple stocks. At its worst, the Dow fell by just under 1,000 points or more than 9%? which would have represented the biggest one-day fall in 17 months. However, moments later buyers returned, prompting a rally, the Times reports.Debt costs surged to fresh highs across the eurozone periphery after the European Central Bank ruled out using its "nuclear option" to stabilise the bond markets, with worrying signs of contagion to Italy. Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB's president, said the bank's governing council had not even talked about a possible purchase of eurozone government debt at a meeting in Lisbon, despite pleas from economists that this may be the only way to prevent the crisis spiralling out of control. "We did not discuss the matter. I have nothing more to say on it," he said. He stressed that the ECB is "inflexibly attached to price stability", even though core inflation is near record lows at just 0.9%, the Telegraph reports.Prudential's $35.5 billion acquisition of AIA in Asia appeared to be in grave danger last night as its prospects of finding fresh capital to satisfy the Financial Services Authority's concerns appeared to be fading fast. People close to the situation said the FSA was refusing to back down over its position that the insurer needed to find more than £1bn in extra capital, the Times reports.Up to 200 American lawyers are planning a class action against BP that could be one of the most expensive yet. The group met in a New Orleans hotel on Wednesday to discuss the plan, which is being led by Daniel Becnel Jr, a Louisiana attorney representing hundreds of individuals and businesses affected by the Gulf of Mexico spill. "I would estimate this will be $20bn and up but if it keeps spewing oil it's going to get worse," he told The Times. "To be honest, I am concerned about the company's viability."London Underground is planning to drive the final nail in the coffin of the £30bn Public Private Partnership deal to improve the Tube by taking control of the company responsible for upgrading the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. The Times has learnt that Transport for London (Tfl), which is controlled by London's Mayor Boris Johnson, will buy out Amey and Bechtel, the shareholders that control Tube Lines. This will bring the whole of the Underground operation back into the public sector.The backlash against excessive executive pay gathered momentum yesterday when three British blue chips came under fire from irate investors. Lloyds Banking Group, Reckitt Benckiser and Cobham were all stung by significant shareholder revolts at their annual meetings. The biggest revolt came at Cobham. Nearly one third of shareholders voted against the remuneration after executives received a big boost to their share bonuses. The defence and aerospace company had allowed executives to defer up to half their 2008 bonus and earn twice as many shares in the future, the Times reports.The City watchdog is set to ban the former head of investment banking at Royal Bank of Scotland from taking senior jobs in the financial services industry, following a year-long investigation into the division. The investigation has particularly focused on Johnny Cameron, who ran the division for seven years and was one of the disgraced former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin's key lieutenants, the Independent reports.Andy Clarke, Asda's chief operating officer, is likely to be anointed as the supermarket chain's next chief executive following Andy Bond's surprise decision to quit the post last month. The Walmart owned grocer could announce Mr Clarke's appointment as early as next week. He will take over from Mr Bond, who is stepping up to become chairman of Britain's second-largest supermarket chain, the FT reports.
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