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— The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Monday, October 13, 2008:
White House scrambles to get rescue plan moving
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the world's financial markets on a stomach-churning ride, the Bush administration is scrambling to get a $700 billion rescue effort for the U.S. banking system up and running, as Europe's central banks began Monday to take unified actions aimed at easing the credit crisis. The Bush administration faced a daunting task as it moves to put together what will be one of the world's largest asset management firms while rethinking how the program should operate.
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European, Asian markets bounce back
LONDON (AP) — European markets opened strongly Monday following Asia's lead in response to the widespread government efforts over the weekend to shore up the world's troubled financial system. Germany's DAX was 299.86 points, or 6.6 percent, higher at 4,844.17, while France's CAC-40 was up 228.02 points, or 7.2 percent, at 3,404,51. Britain's FTSE 100 was 221,01 points, or 5.6 percent, higher at 4,153.16.
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British banks to get $63B infusion from government
LONDON (AP) — The British government said Monday it would provide up to $63 billion to boost the balance sheets of three of Britain's largest banks but demanded in return the departure of some of the country's top bankers. "The action we are taking today is unprecedented but essential to all of us," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at a press conference.
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HK legislators criticize regulators over bonds
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong legislators on Monday accused regulators of failing to monitor banks that sold billions of dollars worth of Lehman Brothers-backed bonds whose value is in doubt after the U.S. investment bank failed. More than 40,000 Hong Kongers have bought Lehman-related investment products through banks, with the total outstanding value of the products estimated at HK$20.2 billion (US$2.6 billion), according to figures provided by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
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Oil rebounds in Asia on Europe bank rescue plan
SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices rebounded from a 13-month low to rise above $81 a barrel Monday in Asia on expectations that a pledge by European countries to keep banks from collapsing may stabilize a tumultuous global financial system. Light, sweet crude for November delivery was up $3.71 to $81.41 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract fell Friday $8.89 to $77.70, the lowest price since Sept. 10, 2007.
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Investors face more uncertainty as bailout widens
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors agonizing over whether the stock market is bottoming out or about to extend its precipitous decline face more uncertainty this week as they await action on the government's rapidly expanding effort to pull the financial system from the brink. If last week was any indication, Washington's medicine has yet to take hold. Wall Street suffered through its worst five-day period in history as investor fears about frozen credit markets deepened and they yanked money out of the markets, sending major indexes tumbling from New York to Hong Kong.
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Is the era of easy credit over for the long haul?
An inflatable gorilla beckoned from the roof of Don Brown Chevrolet in St. Louis, servers doled out free bowls of pasta and a salesman urged potential customers to "come on up under the canopy and put your hands on" a new set of wheels. But sitting across from a salesman in a quiet back room, Adrian Clark could see it would not be nearly that easy. This was the ninth or tenth dealership for Clark, a steamfitter looking for a car to commute to a new job. Every one offered a variation on the discouragement he was getting here: Without $1,000 for a downpayment, no loan.
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Euro nations to guarantee bank refinancing
PARIS (AP) — Nations in Europe's single-currency zone agreed Sunday to temporarily guarantee bank refinancing and pledged to prevent banks failing as part of a raft of emergency measures designed to get credit flowing again. It was Europe's most unified response so far to the global financial crisis and addresses a key part of the problem: banks' reluctance to lend to each other. That has helped fuel the crisis that has pulled down some of Wall Street's most storied names and is threatening the core of the U.S. and European economies.
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China looking inward as foreign economies slow
BEIJING (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party on Sunday said it would seek to expand its massive internal market to counter the global economic slowdown that has reduced international demand for Chinese goods. The party, led by President Hu Jintao, released a statement at the end of a four-day meeting of its Central Committee where it also approved a plan aimed at doubling rural incomes by 2020.
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Palin has mixed record as fiscal conservative
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, bills herself as a fiscal conservative. But her record is mixed: She increased to historic proportions the annual bonus each Alaskan receives from the government yet gained prominence by raising taxes on the oil industry. When Palin signed an operating budget this spring authorizing roughly $11 billion in spending — more than $16,000 for every man, woman and child in Alaska — she told state lawmakers she had three goals: "To slow the growth of government, live within our means and save for the future."
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Japan Markets
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese financial markets closed for the Sports Day national holiday
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Dollar-Yen
TOKYO (AP) — The dollar bought 100.34 Japanese yen, up slightly from the 100.15 yen a dollar bought late Friday in New York.
A service of The Associated Press. Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.
