Late to the game, or the stamp of authority? Goldman Sachs cut its earnings outlooks for Citigroup, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley last night, citing mounting write-downs on mortgages, a slowdown in overall activity, and legal expenses, and this morning, Bernstein cut its outlook on Lehman, Goldman, and Morgan Stanley. The round third-quarter smack down started with stalwart bank analyst Dick Bove of Ladenburg Thalmann, who cut Goldman and Morgan Stanley on August 11. Top-ranked Deutsche bank analyst Mike Mayo downgraded Goldman on the 12^th, as did Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer. Goldman’s William Tanona said Lehman could lose $9.65 per share for the year, versus a prior forecast for a loss of $2.10 per share. “We assume no or negative earnings for the majority of firms in our universe this quarter, and for some of our firms, the third quarter marks the fourth consecutive quarter of reported losses, clearly an unprecedented streak.”

Ericsson and STMicroelectronics have agreed to join their wireless chip and software businesses to create a joint venture that will supply four of the world’s top five cellphone makers. The new company will bring together the Mobile Platforms unit of Ericsson, the world’s biggest mobile telecoms equipment maker, and ST-NXP wireless, the third-largest maker of wireless chips globally. With pro-forma 2007 revenues of $3.6 billion, the venture will present a tougher challenge to wireless chip market leader Qualcomm and number two Texas Instruments. Ericsson and ST-NXP Wireless already cooperate with one another. “This is an interesting merger in that the new company will be a supplier to all the big mobile companies except Motorola,” Redeye analyst Greger Johansson said.

Changi Airports International, owned by Singapore’s government, may consider buying British airports that Spain’s Ferrovial may be forced to sell. “We are open to evaluating the deal, but we will wait to see the terms if they are attractive,” said a Changi Airports spokeswoman. Airports operator BAA, owned by Ferrovial, was told by Britain’s Competition Commission that it should sell three of its seven British airports, due to problems created by its near monopoly. Changi has been on a global expansion spree in the past two years, buying a stake in China’s Nanjing Lukou and clinching management contracts in India, Russia and the Middle East.

Other deals of the day:

* ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel producer, said it had agreed to buy iron ore miner London Mining Brasil for up to $810 million to help improve its self-sufficiency in raw materials.

* Business software maker Salesforce.com said that it bought smaller software maker InStranet for $31.5 million.

* Israeli holding company Koor Industries said it had raised its stake in Credit Suisse after gradually reducing it in recent weeks.

* Kirloskar Electric said its board has approved picking up stakes in two German firms. It will buy about 95 percent in German manufacturing firm Lloyd Dynamowerke and 100 percent in Lloyd Beteiligungs from CMP Fonds.