Reuters - The U.S. Congress approved a massive housing market rescue bill on Saturday, offering emergency financing to mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , and setting up a $300-billion fund to help hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners.

AP - Consumer spending is down and gas prices are up. That's bad math for the scores of destination retailers across the country that want customers to fill up the tank for a gas-guzzling day of retail therapy.

AP - Japanese stocks fell sharply Friday as Wall Street's overnight plunge renewed lingering concerns about the U.S. economy.

Reuters - Four past and present British Airways executives will be charged with fixing the price of passenger fuel surcharges on transatlantic flights, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Reuters - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc's $3.3 billion purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc was approved with conditions by U.S. communications regulators on Friday, clearing the way for a deal that will leave just one U.S. satellite radio service.

Reuters - Chrysler LLC said its financing arm would stop offering vehicle leases to U.S. consumers, a sharp break in strategy in response to tighter credit and the plunging resale prices for gas-guzzling trucks.

Reuters - The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday urged Congress to give his agency authority to oversee investment banks, even as a top Federal Reserve official said the central bank needed similar powers to do its job.

AP - Sales of new homes fell in June for the seventh time in the past eight months, but the decline was less than had been expected, raising faint hopes that the nation's severe housing recession could be approaching a bottom.

Reuters - Wachovia Corp shares fell as much as 10 percent on Friday after a downgrade by a Morgan Keegan & Co analyst, who said the stock's 73 percent rise in seven trading days wasn't justified in light of its credit problems.

Reuters - The Dow and S&P 500 moved into negative territory on Friday, erasing earlier gains after Standard & Poor's said it may cut the subordinated debt and preferred stock ratings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac .