Reuters - Asian policymakers held emergency talks to find ways to bolster their banks on Friday before a meeting between U.S. and French presidents that Nicolas Sarkozy said could help launch a "refoundation of capitalism."

Reuters - U.S. industrial output posted its biggest drop since 1974 in September, while a regional factory index slumped this month and labor markets showed softness, suggesting the economy has fallen into recession.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said a Web search advertising deal with Yahoo Inc makes economic sense and may still be possible, though the two sides are not in any discussions.

Reuters - Turmoil in housing and credit markets drove Citigroup Inc to its fourth straight quarterly loss, reflecting more than $13 billion of loan losses and write-downs for complex and risky debt.

Reuters - General Motors Corp will lay off 1,500 hourly workers at plants in Michigan and Delaware where it builds pickup trucks, large cars and a two-seat roadster due to slowing demand, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Reuters - The Dow and the S&P 500 slipped in a choppy session on Thursday, pressured by nervousness that the economy might be sliding into a recession.

Reuters - U.S. shoppers will spend more on holiday-related purchases this year, but that spending will increase by the lowest level in at least six years, according to a survey released by an industry trade group on Thursday.

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday gave a dour assessment of the U.S. economy, citing a "significant threat" from shuttered credit markets in remarks that indicated he was open to cutting interest rates further.

Reuters - Insurance giant American International Group Inc is spending money to lobby states to soften new controls on the mortgage industry, the Wall Street Journal said.

Reuters - Switzerland's two largest banks will receive billions of francs of emergency funding from the country's government and other investors to shore them up against the financial crisis, they said on Thursday.

Reuters - Asian stocks plummeted, led by an 11 percent drop on Japan's Nikkei, and oil prices dropped to a one-year low on Thursday as fears grew of a more protracted and sharp global slowdown than initially expected.

Reuters - The global financial crisis shifted gears on Thursday with fears of recession battering financial markets even as governments sought yet more action to pull the world economy from the brink of collapse.