Reuters - Evidence piled up on Friday that the world is slipping into recession but the White House played down expectations for a weekend meeting between lame-duck U.S. President George W. Bush and European Union leaders.
AP - The government's drastic economic rescue efforts will eventually pay off, President Bush insisted Friday, offering calming words to anxious Americans but no suggestion of a quick revival as Wall Street braced for another wild day.
Reuters - Stock markets climbed around the world on Friday, taking their lead from Wall Street's late rally the previous session and helped by easing interbank lending rates, lower oil prices and encouraging earnings from technology firms.
Reuters - Rupert Murdoch said he cannot predict a successful 2009 for News Corp (NWSa.N) given the economic turmoil, but his media empire has a $5 billion cash war chest and extended debt repayment dates to see it through the global financial crisis.
Reuters - Record low auto sales and the financial crisis are spurring fresh merger talk about the Big Three U.S. automakers in a new global consolidation round while the sales rot is also impacting suppliers and car retailers.
Reuters - U.S. consumer confidence and new-home construction plummeted in further signs of a looming recession, ahead of a meeting between President George W. Bush and European leaders to discuss the financial crisis.
Reuters - Stocks rose in choppy trade on Friday after tech bellwether Google Inc posted reassuring results and energy stocks tracked the price of oil higher.
Reuters - Consumer confidence suffered its steepest monthly drop on record in October and construction starts on new homes fell to a 17-1/2 year low the previous month, as the financial crisis sent shock waves through the economy.
AP - Wild gyrations on Wall Street, a loss of confidence in the U.S. banking system and worries the economy will be weak for some time are raising Americans' anxiety level.
AP - Arthur Levitt, the one-time chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, blamed his former agency Thursday for failures he said helped cause the financial meltdown.
Reuters - International Business Machines Corp , the biggest technology services company, said it expects to meet long-term profit forecasts despite economic turmoil, partly due to continued growth in emerging markets.
Reuters - Financial institutions ran to their lender of last resort for record amounts of cash in the latest week, under extreme pressure from the worst global financial crisis in a generation, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.
Reuters - Google Inc profits surpassed Wall Street quarterly forecasts, sending its shares up more than 10 percent as the Internet search and advertising leader held deepening economic gloom at bay.
Reuters - Equities rose across the world on Friday after encouraging earnings signals from technology firms such as IBM and a slowly improving tone in beleaguered short-term money markets helped ease recession fears.
