Some of the companies already had recently announced staffing reductions; these represent additional cuts. Some are also freezing salaries.

Some of the jobs will be cut by the end of next month; others by the end of the year.

Cummins Inc.

Cummins said the cuts will be accomplished through buyout offers for certain employees and layoffs. In addition, the company said it will reduce its officers' salaries by 10 percent for the year.

"Cummins will continue to monitor production volumes at individual manufacturing plants and take whatever actions are necessary as dictated by customer demand for its products," the company said in a statement.

Cummins has made numerous work force cuts recently as it copes with the economic downturn. Last month, the company said it would cut at least 500 white-collar jobs worldwide and also said it would lay off about 100 workers at a factory in Mineral Point, Wis.

Combined with previous job cuts, the company said it will have reduced its white-collar work force by more than 1,400 and its hourly work force by more than 600, amounting to a reduction of about 5 percent of its permanent work force. The company also said it has shrunk its temporary and contract work force by 2,500.

Shares of Cummins were down 1.07 percent (28 cents) to $25.90 early this afternoon. The price has ranged from $17.70 to $75.98 in the last 52 weeks.

ING Group

Affected employees are being told this week of the layoffs, which will be completed by the end of the first quarter, ING spokesman Dana Ripley said.

"ING regrets having to make these difficult decisions but unfortunately, the current weak environment has required us to align the size of our business with the expected business activity for 2009," Ripley said. "We remain confident in the future direction of our U.S. business."

In addition to the layoffs, about 170 vacant positions will not be filled.

The company employs about 11,000 workers in the United States.

The job reductions span all U.S. business units and locations, Ripley said.

ING Group is based in Amsterdam. Its U.S. headquarters is in New York. Other locations include Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Washington and Des Moines, Iowa.

The company's banking, insurance and financial services segments offer annuities, retirement plans, life insurance, mutual funds, banking, financial planning and reinsurance.

ING was among the top 20 financial services companies globally in terms of market capitalization as recently as last March, but its stock has lost nearly three quarters of its value since then.

ING shares fell 69 cents, or 6.14 percent, to $10.54 in midday trading. They've traded between $6.37 and $40.67 in the past 52 weeks.

In November, European Union regulators approved a 10 billion euro ($12.5 billion) emergency capital injection into ING Group. The Dutch government's infusion of cash was intended to prevent a run on the bank and insurance giant.

Pfizer

New York-based Pfizer plans to reduce its global research staff - currently about 10,000 people - by 5 percent to 8 percent this year, company spokeswoman Kristen Neese said.

"This is in line with our refocused research areas," Neese said.

The move comes after the company announced in September that it was narrowing its research focus to six disease areas - Alzheimer's, cancer, schizophrenia, pain, inflammation and diabetes - and abandoning new research in other areas.

That included cardiovascular disease, where Pfizer had been a dominant player with its $13 billion-a-year cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug. But Lipitor is expected to face generic competition in late 2011, and efforts to come up with a successor drug failed.

Already, Lipitor sales have dipped slightly, apparently partly due to consumers trying a much-cheaper generic form of a similar drug, Zocor.

"This is probably not the end," said biopharmaceuticals analyst Erik Gordon, a professor at University of Michigan Business School.

He said Pfizer likely has identified 500 to 800 scientists not in the new core areas in its first round of review, but more could be cut later.

Gordon said the cuts are not due to the recession but to the long-term problems plaguing the entire drug industry. Those include stiffer generic competition and general lack of research productivity.

Also last fall, Pfizer said it was reorganizing its business units, including replacing its current geographic divisions with new ones centered on primary care, specialty care and operations in emerging markets.

But analysts have been saying recently that they expect Pfizer to make a big move, such as a major acquisition that would allow massive job cuts to save money while adding drugs to its pipeline.

Under a major restructuring begun in January 2007, Pfizer has eliminated roughly 13,500 jobs and closed eight plants already.

Pfizer shares were up 12 cents (0.69 percent) at $17.48 in midday trading. The price has ranged from $14.26 to $24.24 in the last 52 weeks.

Barclays

LONDON - Barclays PLC will cut 2,100 jobs in its investment banking and investment management units in response to the global economic downturn, according to people close to the decision.

The cuts represent about 7 percent of the bank's global staff. The people familiar with deal - speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk on the record - say the layoffs will come from Barclays Capital, Barclays Wealth and Barclays Global Investors.

A spokesman for Barclays Wealth says the bank is reducing its staff to ensure that it can operate in the current market conditions.

Barclays American depositary receipts were trading at $9.60 down $1.28 (11.76 percent) at midafternoon.