Senate urged to back revised bank rescue
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European policymakers urged the U.S. Senate on Wednesday to approve a revised $700 billion financial rescue plan aimed at tackling the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
Stocks fall on credit jitters, bailout eyed
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened lower on Wednesday on signs of continued strains in the credit markets and nervousness before a Senate vote on a revamped rescue plan for the financial sector.
Private sector cuts 8,000 jobs in September
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private employers cut a surprisingly low 8,000 jobs in September, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday, although the data did not include the financial chaos of the past two weeks.
Major HBOS, Lloyds investor backs deal terms: source
LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Life Investments, a top investor in Lloyds TSB and HBOS , supports the planned takeover of HBOS by Lloyds under the terms originally announced, a person close to the investment firm said.
Xstrata ditches Lonmin bid but blocks rivals
LONDON (Reuters) - Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata Plc dropped immediate plans for a $10 billion bid for No. 3 platinum producer Lonmin Plc on Wednesday but set the scene for a later deal by scooping up Lonmin shares as they fell.
UBS seen announcing 1,900 new job cuts: report
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS may announce plans to cut another 1,900 jobs in its investment banking, equities and fixed income units at its shareholder meeting on Thursday, Bloomberg said on Wednesday.
U.S. crude futures drop $2 on dollar, await data
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell $2 on Wednesday on the dollar's strength versus the euro and ahead of inventory data expected to show crude supplies rose and refined products stocks fell last week.
Auto stocks sink as credit crunch hits car buyers
LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in European automakers fell sharply on Wednesday as signs consumers are struggling to raise loans to buy cars fed into a market spooked by concerns about earnings targets at Daimler .
SEC gives banks more leeway on mark-to-market
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators on Tuesday gave the financial industry a reprieve from marking hard-to-value assets down to fire sale prices, throwing a lifeline to an industry beset by strained credit markets and the latest round of bank failures.
September layoffs jump: survey
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Planned layoffs at U.S. companies rose 7.2 percent from a month earlier in September but jumped 33 percent compared with the same month a year ago, according to a report on Wednesday that cast further clouds over the state of the U.S. labor market.
Ford U.S. sales fall 34.6 percent
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Wednesday its U.S. sales fell an unadjusted 34.6 percent in September to its weakest levels of the year due to a weakening U.S. economy and tight credit conditions.
France's Lagarde denies report of EU bank plan
PARIS (Reuters) - French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde denied on Wednesday that France was planning a 300 billion euro ($424.4 billion) EU bank rescue package.
Factories mired in recession levels, jobs weak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. factory activity shrank in September to its lowest since the 2001 recession, and private employers shed jobs for the third time in four months as the financial crisis tightened its grip on the world's largest economy.
GE shares tumble on concerns about 2009 earnings
BOSTON (Reuters) - Shares of General Electric Co fell 8 percent on Wednesday after a stock analyst said the U.S. conglomerate may be set for a drop in profit next year and the cost to insure its debt skyrocketed.
Lawmaker slams SEC for lax oversight
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. lawmaker is accusing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of lax oversight that contributed to current market turmoil.
Loomis Sayles' Fuss sees value in corporate bonds
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Loomis Sayles' Dan Fuss, one of the biggest and most widely followed U.S. bond managers, said on Wednesday U.S. investment-grade corporate bonds, which have been heavily battered in recent weeks, are the "best buying opportunity" in decades.
Fortis scraps sales, UniCredit under pressure
AMSTERDAM/MILAN (Reuters) - Fortis, the Belgian bank partially nationalized this week, scrapped $4 billion of asset sales just as top Italian and Icelandic banks said they will sell assets to bolster defenses as a credit crisis reverberates among Europe's banks.
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