Reuters - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama warned his supporters to guard against overconfidence on Thursday as he and underdog Republican rival John McCain opened a 19-day sprint to Election Day.

AP - Merrill Lynch says it third-quarter loss widened as it took more than $12 billion in charges from the sale of mortgage-related investments and fallout from the continued credit crisis.

AP - JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s profit tumbled 84 percent in the third quarter after it took big hits from souring mortgage investments, leveraged loans and home loans.

Reuters - Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama begin a 19-day sprint to Election Day on Thursday after a contentious final debate that featured aggressive McCain attacks on Obama's campaign tactics and tax plans.

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 - JPMorgan Chase & Co's quarterly profit fell 84 percent, due to mark-downs on underperforming loans, but the results still beat analysts' forecasts.

AP - JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s profit tumbled 84 percent in the third quarter after it took big hits from souring mortgage investments, leveraged loans and home loans.

AP - The Bush administration's latest effort to resolve the financial crisis embraces an approach it had resisted just a few weeks ago.

AP - Spain's Banco Santander SA is taking its New World expansion northward. Already with a major presence in Latin America, the Madrid-based bank on Monday said it is buying the three-quarters stake in Philadelphia-based thrift Sovereign Bancorp Inc. that it doesn't already own for $1.9 billion.

Reuters - Britain's biggest mortgage provider HBOS Plc said the takeover of the bank by Lloyds TSB remained on, rejecting a report on Sunday that the deal had collapsed.

AFP - China's ruling Communist Party was expected Sunday to approve a major economic reform plan that would let farmers trade and mortgage their right to land and bolster the nation's food security.

Reuters - Down in opinion polls, Republican presidential nominee John McCain pressed his effort to raise doubts about Barack Obama's character on Thursday with a fresh attack on his Democratic rival's contacts with a former left-wing radical who became a college professor.