Reuters - The U.S. government is weighing guaranteeing billions of dollars in bank debt and temporarily insuring al U.S. bank deposits, in a bid to unfreeze bank lending and staunch massive losses in equity markets, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Reuters - The world's economic powers faced huge pressure on Friday to devise drastic remedies to revive the banking system and end panic selling in global financial markets.

AP - American consumers went into hiding in September, leaving retailers with dismal sales and an uncertain future well beyond the holiday season as the fallout from the financial meltdown pushes spending even lower.

Reuters - UBS AG is halting its widely read weekly mortgage strategy report after more than 15 years of publication as the bank broadly scales down in the home loan business, including the closure of its asset-backed securities group, sources said.

AFP - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday bemoaned the "irrational despair" afflicting tumbling stock markets, and said President George W. Bush was too weak to fix the crisis.

Reuters - Canada has the world's soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday a recently approved financial bailout bill gives him wide authority to inject capital into the banking system and would not rule out having Treasury take an ownership position in banks if necessary.

Reuters - The United States signaled it could consider buying into debt-laden banks to help get funds flowing through the financial system again after the IMF warned the world was on the brink of recession.

AP - American shoppers went into hiding in September, sticking to buying the bare-bone essentials and leading many retailers to report dismal sales for the month as skittish consumers grappled with the financial meltdown spreading around the globe.

Reuters - U.S. consumer borrowing fell for the first time in more than a decade in August amid tighter credit markets, tougher lending standards and declining consumer spending, a Federal Reserve report showed on Tuesday.

AFP - US stocks zigzagged on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve joined a global coordinated interest rate cut in an extraordinary bid to ease credit and calm roiling markets.

Reuters - American International Group Inc , a day after being criticized for a lavish event held just days after the insurer got an $85 billion government rescue loan, shot back on Wednesday saying the event was for independent life insurance agents, not its employees.

Reuters - Pending sales of existing U.S. homes unexpectedly jumped in August to the highest in over a year, data from a real estate trade group showed on Wednesday.