** The Fed effect was short lived for battered UK mortgage lender Northern Rock, which fell as much 20 percent on rumors of a cut-price takeover bid. Traders cited speculation of opportunistic cut-price bids for Northern Rock from mortgage bank HBOS or from Lloyds TSB, with possible offers rumored at 200 pence a share or below. The stock was trading around 277 pence, down around 10 percent, around midday in London. 

** Accredited Home Lenders Holding has knocked 22 percent off its price for acquirer Lone Star. Accredited has agreed to an  $11.75 per share buyout — well below the original $15.10 deal price, but a far cry from the $8.50 Lone Star was offering under a revised proposal. As part of the agreement, Accredited said it would drop a lawsuit against the private equity fund. The acquisition remains structured as an all-cash tender offer. Lone Star also agreed to provide financing of $49 million to Accredited, of which about $34 million will be used to pay down outstanding debt.
    
** Morgan Stanley is taking a nibble at China’s red-hot wealth management sector. The U.S. investment bank is buying a stake in China’s Jutian Fund Management, according to sources close to the situation. A Jutian official declined to say how big a stake Morgan Stanley would take or how much it would pay, but said Morgan Stanley would be joined by a Chinese firm as a co-investor. Jutian manages three mutual funds, including two equities funds and one money market fund, with total assets under management of around 500 million yuan or $66.55 million.
        
** Clothing company Kellwood Co says it received an unsolicited bid from Sun Capital Securities Group to acquire all of its outstanding shares for $21 per share, in a deal worth about $543.7 million. The offer represents about a 38 percent premium to Tuesday’s closing price of $15.17. The company’s brands include Baby Phat and Nautica.     
 
** Time Warner will “look hard” in the next 12 to 18 months at possibly selling its AOL dial-up Internet access business after doing so in Europe. Some Wall Street analysts have argued Time Warner is worth more broken apart than together. AOL now offers most of its services for free to focus on boosting advertising sales both on AOL.com and across the Web through its third-party online advertising networks.
    
** The Fed’s 50-basis-point rate cut should improve banks’ lending margins and give them breathing space to deal with the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis. Some bankers expect lower rates to revive some of the mergers and acquisitions idled by a global credit squeeze if investor confidence gets a sufficient boost.
 
** The Deal Journal presents a collection of comments from private equity heavyweight Wilbur Ross, who it says has become the de facto spokesman of the credit meltdown. 
 
** Financing concerns have clouded acquisitions of Genesco, PHH and Sallie Mae, but very few mergers actually collapse on Wall Street. A review of mergers in 2006 by law firm Nixon Peabody found that contracts have become increasingly specific and have narrowed a buyer’s ability to walk away from deals. 
    
** Clothing company Warnaco Group says it plans to sell most of its swimwear brands, including Anne Cole, Cole of California and Catalina, keeping only the Calvin Klein and Speedo labels. The clothing company, which also raised its full-year earnings outlook, said it is exploring strategic options for its Lejaby business of swimwear and lingerie.