|
|
» 1A » Sports » City | Region » Business Monday » Health | Family » Communities » Free Time » Weekender » Faith | Values » Inside | Out » A la carte » Arts + Life |
Week In Pictures
 |
 |
|
Buy Herald-Leader photos Visit HL Photo.com Slide shows, videos UK sports photos Horse racing photo |
|
|
 |
After a free fall in share prices this week, investors in Asia could do little else but pray.
Finance officials from the world's top economic powers endorsed a sweeping plan Friday to stem the worst financial crisis in more than a half-century.
Stock prices swung sharply on Wall Street, with investors still selling heavily but also scooping up stocks that have been decimated by more than a week of huge losses. The Dow Jones industrials, down nearly 700 points in the opening minutes of trading, recovered to an advance of more than 100 before turning lower again, and the other major indexes fluctuated sharply as well.
• How is the faltering economy affecting you?
Developing countries warned on Friday that the global financial crisis could dampen their growth prospects and recommended an international response to prevent "the most difficult situation in years" from worsening.
The U.S. trade deficit edged down slightly in August, reflecting a drop in foreign oil from record levels. But the politically sensitive deficit with China increased as imports from that country hit an all-time high.
Text of G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors' plan of action, as provided by the Treasury Department:
President Bush said Friday that the government's financial rescue plan was aggressive enough and big enough to work, but would take time to fully kick in. "We can solve this crisis and we will," he said in brief remarks from the White House Rose Garden.
Poultry producer Sanderson Farms Inc. on Thursday said it filed a shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $1 billion in stock, on terms to be determined, to potentially fund future acquisitions or other strategic opportunities.
The standard-setting board for corporate accounting adopted new guidance on Friday for how banks value assets in the distressed market, a move that could boost their balance sheets.
Just a year ago, investors were swaggering as the stock market surged to an all-time high. Now, almost everyone on Wall Street and Main Street seems to be shuddering amid a frightening reversal of fortune that has erased $8.3 trillion in shareholder wealth in the past 366 days.
Morgan Stanley Inc. shares plunged more than 22 percent Friday as investors questioned the investment bank's future even with a major investment from Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Governments around the world have slashed interest rates and ramped up their lending to unprecendented levels, but banks are still charging each other extremely high borrowing rates - a bad sign for the credit markets that remain close to paralysis.
Oil prices plummeted to a one-year low below $83 a barrel Friday in Asia as investor fears of a severe global economic downturn sparked a panicked sell-off of equities and crude.
A medium-sized Japanese insurance company went bankrupt Friday, becoming the first Japanese financial company to collapse on the fallout from the global credit crisis.
The state of Alabama has settled Medicaid drug pricing lawsuits it filed against prescription drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb and four other companies, a lawyer representing the state confirmed Friday.
Oil prices plummeted to a one-year low below $83 a barrel Friday in European trading as investor fears of a severe global economic downturn caused by the crisis in credit markets sparked a panicked sell-off of both crude and equities.
PepsiCo, the nation's second-largest beverage company, said Friday it was launching a new marketing campaign to refocus attention on soft drinks, which have seen lagging sales.
The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Friday, Oct. 10, 2008:
Can filing for bankruptcy help homeowners facing foreclosure?
Nearly all the $3.4 trillion in money-market mutual funds is expected to be federally guaranteed for at least the next three months, now that all the major fund providers signed up to participate by a deadline that passed Wednesday.
