AUTOS

* Budget Group Inc., best known as the operator of Budget Rent a Car, said it will cut 1,000 jobs and take a pretax charge of $90 million to $95 million in the fourth quarter as it moves to restructure and slash costs. The company said it will exit the car sales business, consolidate some Ryder TRS operations into the North American vehicle rental division, integrate its Premier Car Rental operations into its Budget operations, and sell any remaining non-core assets. Excluding special items, Budget expects fourth-quarter earnings to be in line with analysts’ forecasts of 45 cents a share. Budget shares fell 44 cents to close at $8.94 on the NYSE.