The Ford Motor Company has been dealt a blow by credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, which has cut the carmaker’s credit rating to junk on doubts that a turnaround plan by chief executive Jim Hackett will generate earnings and cash quickly enough.

Fiat Chrysler, lacking a potential deal to combine with another carmaker anytime soon, will push ahead with separating from its components business, chief executive Sergio Marchionne said.

Deere & Co, the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment, has raised its full-year earnings forecast and posted a fiscal second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after higher crop prices supported US farm incomes.

EARNINGS at General Electric climbed 11% in the third quarter as the finance unit’s gains blunted tighter profit margins in the energy business.

GENERAL ELECTRIC posted second-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates, buoyed by itsfinance unit, as the industrial order backlog rose to a record level.