Young Negotiators

Reuters - Wells Fargo & Co said on Friday it would buy Wachovia Corp for about $16 billion, apparently besting a government-backed Citigroup Inc bid for some of the bank's assets, in a deal that would catapult Wells Fargo into the ranks of the leading national consumer banks.

Reuters - U.S. employers cut 159,000 jobs last month, a ninth straight monthly reduction and the deepest in 5-1/2 years, the government said in a report on Friday that suggested the economy may be in recession.

AP - Employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 in September, the most in more than five years, a worrisome sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession.

For many people the credit crisis isn't very real yet. But it is seeping down to Main Street

There are big numbers floating around Washington these days: the $700 billion rescue plan, the $307 billion failure of Washington Mutual bank.

It seems almost beyond belief, then, that a key to unlocking the seized-up credit markets might come at the cost of less than $1,000 a pop to get firms to renegotiate troubled loans. All told, the total government cost might come in around $4 billion—pocket money in comparison to the gargantuan scale of the troubles.

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The Senate passes an amended rescue plan, throwing the ball back into the House Republicans' court

President Bush said Thursday "a lot of people are watching" to see if Congress will enact the $700 billion financial rescue plan that he called the best chance to restore calm to the financial industry. A second-chance vote is tentatively scheduled for Friday.

Reuters - European policymakers urged the U.S. Senate on Wednesday to approve a revised $700 billion financial rescue plan aimed at tackling the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

After the market meltdown brought home the real cost of inaction, many members of Congress are getting a different message from the public and reconsidering their initial no vote

Reuters - Dow Jones futures fell 0.8 percent by 5:35 a.m. EDT, S&P 500 futures slipped 1.0 percent and Nasdaq futures lost 0.9 percent on Wednesday.

It could have been worse. That was the preliminary judgment in foreign markets as indices in Asia and Europe posted moderate declines -- and in some cases modest growth -- on Tuesday

Congress thinks it is punishing Wall Street by rejecting the rescue plan. But it may be hurting everyone

For many people the credit crisis isn't very real yet. But it is seeping down to Main Street

AFP - The stock market rose 0.80 percent in opening trade on Wednesday, after gains earlier in Asia and overnight on Wall Street, as hopes grew of a new US financial rescue plan.

Reuters - President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed into law a mammoth spending bill to keep the government running until early March 2009 that includes a $25 billion loan package for troubled automakers.