Having been brought low by their dealings in obscure securities, bankers are reluctant to start lending again until the impact of the recession becomes clearer.

Japan's Nikkei index is down 4% by midday, following a day of sharp falls across global financial markets.

Reuters - Asian stocks fell for a third straight day and oil prices slipped to a 1-1/2-year low below $60 a barrel on Friday in the face of a rapidly slowing global economy, though aggressive policy changes brought markets back from freefall.

Reuters - General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co posted more than $27 billion of net losses in the first half of 2008 -- and that was before a deepening economic slowdown pushed industry sales beyond 15-year lows.

Asian markets were mixed but rebounded from early lows amid grim profit forecasts from Toyota and other companies as well as sluggish U.S. economic data.

As editor of The Dallas Times Herald in the 1970s and ?80s, Mr. Johnson transformed it into one of the most respected newspapers in the nation.

Some stock markets in Asia recover from earlier falls, but Japan's Nikkei index closes down 3.6%.

Half-year profits at British Airways fall 91.6% to £52m, with the airline blaming 'incredibly difficult trading conditions'.

Entertainment company Walt Disney reports lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results as consumer confidence falls.

Reuters - Most Asian stocks fell on Friday in the face of a rapidly slowing global economy, which dragged oil briefly below $60 a barrel, though hopes for more policy action to support growth brought markets back from their lows.

German reinsurance giant Munich Re sees its quarterly profits almost wiped out because of the financial crisis and claims for hurricane damage.

EU leaders gather in Brussels to co-ordinate their approach to the financial crisis ahead of a global summit in Washington.

Electronic rivals Panasonic and Sanyo are starting alliance talks, which could result in Panasonic taking over the smaller company.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the government has met with bankers in a bid to ensure that lenders pass on the rate cut.

The number of people and companies being declared insolvent in England and Wales has risen sharply, figures show.

Reuters - European shares climbed on Friday while most Asian shares fell as investors sought to balance economic worries with a new era of lower interest rates ahead of key U.S. jobs data.

Battered by the weak economy and a shift in consumer preferences, Ford announced a third-quarter loss and further cuts in its North American work force.

Asian stock markets ended a mixed week with a mixed performance as investors awaited U.S. economic data

Sprint Nextel, the third-largest mobile service, on Friday posted a quarterly loss and weaker revenue as customers fled to rival services.

Shares jumped after British Airways PLC raised its annual revenue forecast, announced cost-cutting measures and predicted a lower 2009 fuel bill.

Half-year profits at British Airways fall 91.6% to £52m, with the airline blaming 'incredibly difficult trading conditions'.

Car sales in Western Europe fell by 15.5% year-on-year in October, J.D. Power Automotive said.

Iceland is to get a $6bn loan from the International Monetary Fund and some European countries, Poland's finance ministry says.

Germany factory output falls sharply in September as the global slowdown hits demand for products from the world's top exporter.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the government has met bankers in an attempt to ensure lenders pass on the rate cut.

Reuters - Stock futures pointed to a higher Wall Street open on Friday, with futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq up between 1.7 and 2.4 percent.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co posted a $2.98 billion quarterly operating loss on Friday amid the auto industry downturn and the credit crisis that has spread from North America to other regions of the world.

The economy lost 240,000 nonfarm jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent, the government reported, as the slowdown took a toll on households and businesses.

Wall Street seemed to shake off a worse-than-expected jobs report Friday as stocks made early gains.

Ford announced that its automotive business lost $2.9 billion in the third quarter and said that it would cut more jobs to conserve cash.

The airline reported a first-half net loss of 49 million pounds, or $77 million, as record oil prices and a global slowdown hit the airline?s bottom line.

The US jobless rate jumped to 6.5% in October, official figures show, the highest rate since March 1994.

US President-elect Barack Obama is set to meet with his economic advisers to develop a strategy to tackle the economic crisis.

US car maker Ford says it will cut more jobs in its North American operations as it reports another hefty loss.

Toymaker Hornby bets on Lewis Hamilton and James Bond to give its business a boost in the run-up to Christmas.

Leading Japanese pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo completes its $4.2bn (£2.6bn) takeover of the Indian drugs firm Ranbaxy.

Reuters - Stocks rose at the open on Friday as the steep declines of the past two sessions prompted investors to scour the market for beaten-down shares, offsetting a bleak report on unemployment.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co posted a $2.98 billion quarterly operating loss and shares in world No. 1 automaker Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) plunged on Friday after it warned this year's profits would hit a 13-year low.

Markets, leaders and the Bush administration are looking for signs of how Barack Obama will manage the crisis.

Klaus Zumwinkel, the former head of Deutsche Post, is facing legal charges in connection with an investigation into tax evasion, officials confirmed.

EU leaders have reached a joint position on financial reforms that they can take to a global summit in Washington, France says.

The main mortgage lenders have started to respond to the government's demand that they should cut their mortgage rates.

Europe's second-largest steel company Corus announces plans for a 30% cut in production this winter.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Friday as investors followed up two-days of losses with a search for shares in beaten-down sectors, including energy and technology, offsetting a bleak report on unemployment.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co posted a deeper-than-expected $2.98 billion quarterly operating loss on Friday and told investors it would take aggressive actions to further cut costs as it faces a severe slump in demand.

Reuters - Pending sales of existing U.S. homes fell in September on tighter credit and worsening economic conditions, data from a real estate trade group showed on Friday.

The economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent, the Labor Department said, as the toll from slowdown spread.

Wall Street seemed to shake off a worse-than-expected jobs report as buyers returned after two days in which the Dow fell almost 1,000 points.

There are growing worries about the prospects for survival of Ford and G.M., which edged closer to running out of money.

President-elect Barack Obama will meet with a group of high-profile economic experts in Chicago on Friday.

US carmakers GM and Ford report hefty losses and both look to reduce their payrolls in order to cut expenses.

Barack Obama is due to hold his first news conference since he was elected as the 44th US president.

Supermarket Asda has recalled 60,000 DVD players amid fears of a design fault that could cause electrocution.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Friday as investors followed two days of losses in the mood to buy beaten-down sectors, including energy and technology, offsetting a blitz of bleak news indicating economic gloom.

Reuters - Pending sales of existing homes fell in September, reversing the previous month's gains, as access to credit tightened, a private report showed on Friday, adding more gloom to the broader economic outlook.

At his first news conference as president-elect, Barack Obama called on Friday for the Bush administration and Congress to enact an stimulus package.

Often, grown children don?t know how the devastation in the markets has affected their parents and vice versa. Here?s a suggestion on how to start a family conversation about money.

European nations watered down several French proposals that would have pressed the United States and other countries to agree to changes to the global financial system when they meet Nov. 15.

US President-elect Barack Obama pledges to confront the economic crisis immediately after taking office in January.

Reuters - Stocks pared gains on Friday after President-Elect Barack Obama told a news conference there was no quick or easy fix for the economy.

Reuters - American International Group Inc is in talks with the U.S. government to restructure the troubled insurer's credit facility, which could lead to the government buying AIG preferred shares worth several billion dollars, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Reuters - Consumer borrowing unexpectedly rose by $6.86 billion in September, resuming its upward march after falling in August for the first time in more than a decade, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday.

Reuters - Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc , which began liquidation sales at 155 of its stores this week, is cutting hundreds of jobs at its headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, the Richmond-Times Dispatch newspaper reported on its Website on Friday.

The economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent, the Labor Department said, as the toll from slowdown spread.

European nations watered down several French proposals that would have pressed the United States and other countries to agree to changes to the global financial system when they meet Nov. 15.

The airline reported a first-half net loss of 49 million pounds, or $77 million, as record oil prices and a global slowdown hit the airline?s bottom line.

Reuters - U.S. stocks rose on Friday as bargain hunters scooped up shares at multiyear lows after a big drop in the October payrolls was less dire than feared.

Reuters - Korea's Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) has had talks with Chrysler LLC owner Cebererus Capital Managment about a potential acquisition of the struggling U.S. automaker's Jeep brand and possibly other assets, people with knowledge of the talks said on Friday.

At his first news conference as president-elect, Barack Obama called for the Bush administration and Congress to enact a stimulus package.

In its second wireless deal in two days, AT&T announced it planned to buy Centennial Communications for $944 million in cash, or more than double Centennial?s market value.

Berkshire Hathaway?s third-quarter earnings were hurt by declining insurance profits and a $1.05 billion investment loss.

Reuters - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N)(BRKb.N) said on Friday third-quarter profit fell 77 percent, the fourth straight quarterly decline, hurt by weaker results from insurance underwriting and a big loss on derivatives contracts.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama called for urgent passage of a stimulus package to reinvigorate a faltering economy that saw unemployment hit a 14-year high on Friday while U.S. automakers reported billions in losses.

Reuters - U.S. building materials maker USG Corp said on Friday it was cutting around 900 jobs, or 20 percent of its salaried positions.

AP - Consumers boosted their borrowing in September, defying expectations for a cutback.

Reuters - The grim view on consumer spending could get worse next week as investors parse a government report on retail sales and earnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc , while waiting with bated breath for President-elect Barack Obama's pick for U.S. Treasury secretary.

Turkey is faced with the awkward prospect of being forced to accept stringent fiscal conditions to obtain I.M.F. money to replace its disappearing private capital.

While many banks are struggling with bad mortgages, the First National Bank of Orwell is having its best year in recent memory.

This was the fall that the orders stopped coming as consumers and businesses around the globe grew far more cautious.

Studies have repeatedly shown a higher failure rate for women who undergo the the technique known as hip resurfacing.

Telling the children that a parent has been or may be laid off is never going to be easy, but it is necessary.

As Google turned 10 years old, Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive, looks ahead to the next 10 years.

The news extends a string of closures, consolidations and layoffs that have wracked the magazine industry in the last few months.

The deal would bring together two well-known brands with combined annual sales of more than $111.5 billion.

Mr. Busby was a music executive who helped return an industry giant to the top of the charts.

The company lost another 1.3 million wireless subscribers during the third quarter, leading to a loss that sent its stock skidding.

Berkshire Hathaway?s third-quarter earnings were hurt by declining insurance profits and a $1.05 billion investment loss.

In the face of an economic abyss, America is in need of a leader like Franklin D. Roosevelt who can both unite and inspire.

Many low-income Americans were wary of banks even before the latest round of failures and takeovers. Is a semi-reformed payday lender the right guy to bring the urban poor into the banking system?

How talk of money is a language of love.

Reuters - Sotheby's , the world's largest publicly traded auction house, posted a 55 percent rise in its quarterly loss, hammered by losses on auction guarantees, and lower private sales commissions and commission margins.

The toll of lost jobs rose to 1.2 million for the year as 240,000 American jobs disappeared in October.

The automaker?s rapidly deteriorating finances are forcing the government to decide whether to bail it out or face the prospect that it might go bankrupt.

The government will expand purchases of the student loans it backs to head off a potential shortfall going into the next school year.

Public and private universities are freezing hiring and postponing construction projects as endowments shrink and states cut their financing.

Neglect hurt returns from health care stocks for a while, but in a market like this, being ignored can lead to an outperformance.

More stores are building environmentally friendly outlets, as a way to curry favor with consumers and to lower operating costs.

Time Inc. said Craig Matters, currently one of the highest-ranking editors at Fortune, will take over as managing editor at Money.

The comments by Steven A. Ballmer set off a 13 percent decline in Yahoo?s share price.

Shari E. Redstone resigned as chairwoman of Midway Games to focus on refinancing efforts at National Amusements.

The Security Pacific Bank of Los Angeles was closed by regulators, the 19th bank in the nation seized this year.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office upheld Procter & Gamble?s patent used for a Folgers-brand plastic coffee container.

AT&T plans to buy the rural phone company Centennial Communications for $944 million in cash to expand its wireless network in Puerto Rico.

Expenses tied to jet fuel contracts and currency exchange led to the loss after analysts had expected a profit.

Apple?s new executive may have violated an agreement with his former employer, I.B.M., a New York judge ruled.

In the face of an economic abyss, America is in need of a leader like Franklin D. Roosevelt who can both unite and inspire.

Reuters - South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) on Saturday denied its interest in Chrysler's assets, adding it had no capacity for a new acquisition as it focused on completing construction of overseas plants.