BUSINESS BRIEFS

Rebound

The Dow Jones indus trial average pared sharp losses to finish down nearly 7 points after a re port that the government plans to subsidize mort gage payments for trou bled homeowners. The Dow slipped 6.77 to 7,932.76, after falling by more than 245 points in earlier trading. The Stan dard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.45 to 835.19, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 11.21 to 1,541.71.

Bruce bonus

Lazard Chairman and CEO Bruce Wasserstein asked his board of direc tors not to give him an additional bonus for 2008.

Midway

Midway Games, the creator of the Mortal Kombat video-game se ries, yesterday sought bankruptcy protection from creditors, saying a change in ownership accelerated buyback re quirements. The com pany listed assets of $167.5 million and debt of $281 million as of Sept. 30.

Auctions

Christie’s International said its worldwide sales declined 11 percent in 2008. The London-based auction house sold 2.8 billion pounds ($3.98 bil lion) of art and antiques last year. Sotheby’s sales fell 15 percent last year to $5.3 billion, down from $6.2 billion in 2007.

Toyota cuts

Toyota said it was re acting to the slump in US auto sales by further cutting North American production, slashing compensation for execu tives in the region by up to 30 percent, and offer ing buyouts to about 18,000 workers.