heraldsun.com: business

Fed, in emergency move, will lend to companies
WASHINGTON -- Frantically trying to stop the bleeding on Wall Street, the Federal Reserve took a first-time step Tuesday to get cash directly to businesses and hinted that interest rates could come down soon. Stocks continued their free fall anyway and hit new five-year lows.

Retirement accounts have lost $2 trillion so far
WASHINGTON -- Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months -- about 20 percent of their value -- Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday as lawmakers began investigating how turmoil in the financial industry is whittling away workers' nest eggs.

•	Home heating fuel on the way
	DURHAM -- With so many gas stations in the Triangle still running on empty, is there an adequate supply of home heating fuel for the winter?

•	AIG execs' retreat after bailout angers lawmakers
	Days after it got a federal bailout, American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings, according to lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown.

•	Iceland teeters on the brink of bankruptcy
	This volcanic island near the Arctic Circle is on the brink of becoming the first "national bankruptcy" of the global financial meltdown.

•	Bush to America: Hang in there
	President Bush on Tuesday told a country engulfed by dire economic news that it should not expect a sudden recovery, but rather a gradual rebound that will test people's patience.

•	Fed assumes powerful new role in financial crisis
	Dusting off Depression-era emergency powers, the Federal Reserve is extending its reach over the economy as never before, pushing the limits of its authority, if not exceeding them.

•	Unregulated swaps hastened Wall Street collapse
	It can be a fine line between investing and gambling. But in Las Vegas, you know the odds. On Wall Street, that's not always the case.

•	Bernanke: Crisis could prolong economic pain
	Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Tuesday that the financial crisis has not only darkened the country's current economic performance but also could prolong the pain.

•	Stocks tumble as Street worries about financials
	The misery worsened on Wall Street Tuesday, with stocks piling on losses late in the session and bringing the two-day decline in the Dow Jones industrials to more than 875 points amid escalating worries about credit markets and the financial sector.

•	Biolex finances hepatits C treatment
	PITTSBORO -- After withdrawing its initial public offering in February, biopharmaceutical company Biolex Therapeutics Inc. has come back strong with the closing of a $60 million Series D financing and acquisition of commercial rights to a hepatitis C treatment.

•	Alcoa's 3Q profit falls 52 percent
	Alcoa Inc., the world's third-largest aluminum producer, on Tuesday reported a 52-percent drop in third quarter profit and said it would conserve cash by suspending its stock buyback program and all non-critical capital projects.

•	300 suspected illegal immigrants caught in SC raid
	Federal agents swept through a chicken processing plant Tuesday, detaining more than 300 suspected illegal immigrants, sending panicked workers running and screaming through the hallways. Worried relatives collected outside, fearful their loved ones would be deported.

•	Yum says 3rd-quarter earnings rise 5 percent
	Fast-food company Yum Brands Inc. said Tuesday its third-quarter profit grew 5 percent as surging sales in its overseas operations more than offset a sharp decline in U.S. results and the continued strain from high commodity costs.

•	Credit barely eases after Fed plans to buy paper
	The grip on the credit markets loosened just barely on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said it would buy commercial paper, the unsecured short-term debt that companies sell for their short-term cash needs.

•	Oil prices recover slightly after steep drop
	Oil prices swung higher Tuesday, snapping a four-day plunge as investors temporarily halted their frantic selling to see whether the government's sweeping economic bailout can stem a widening global downturn.

•	August borrowing drops at 3.7 percent rate
	Consumer borrowing fell in August for the first time in more than a decade as households, battered by rising job layoffs and the decaying economy, cut back sharply on their use of credit.

•	RIM CEO: AT&T still testing delayed BlackBerry
	A delayed top-of-the-line BlackBerry phone from Research in Motion Ltd. is still undergoing testing by AT&T Inc., and RIM's co-CEO implied that the carrier wants to avoid the chorus of complaints about performance that greeted the new iPhone this summer.

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