Reuters - Stocks surged on Monday, following the worst week ever, as global efforts by governments to pump cash into banks sparked a rally in financial shares, while credit markets showed some signs of loosening up.

Reuters - The world bet solidly on recapitalizing ailing banks as the fastest way out of the financial crisis in a clear new direction on Monday that reinvigorated stock markets after their worst week in history.

Reuters - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) completed its $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley on Monday as U.S. government support helped nail down a critical deal many investors had feared could fall apart.

Reuters - Shares of General Motors Corp jumped almost 18 percent on Monday after reports the No. 1 U.S. automaker had been in merger talks in recent weeks with smaller rivals Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC.

AFP - The FTSE 100 soared on Monday, with the index of leading shares up 4.84 percent after leading banks accepted billions of pounds of taxpayers' money to prop up their ailing institutions.

AP - Dismal September sales results from mall-based apparel chains, released Thursday, offered more fresh evidence that American consumers, spooked by the financial meltdown, shut their wallets tight last month.

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.

AFP - Japan's Yamato Life Insurance is in the process of filing for bankruptcy protection, Jiji Press reported Friday.

AFP - Barack Obama slammed John McCain's plan to buy up 300 billion dollars in bad mortgages as "risky" on Thursday, and warned his White House rival was offering "erratic" leadership at a time of crisis.

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.

AP - Ordering the government to buy up bad mortgages to cut homeowners' monthly payments might sound good, but experts are skeptical. They say the plan John McCain is promoting is unlikely to solve the housing crisis that's pushing the economy toward recession.

Reuters - UBS AG is halting its widely read weekly mortgage strategy report after more than 15 years of publication as the bank broadly scales down in the home loan business, including the closure of its asset-backed securities group, sources said.

Reuters - American International Group Inc could get nearly $38 billion in fresh cash under a program announced by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, as the insurer tried to fend off criticism of a lavish event held days after getting an initial $85 billion government loan.

AFP - Spain's new 30-billion-euro bank rescue fund is aimed at acquiring top-rated mortgages in exchange for injecting essential liquidity into the credit market, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

Reuters - Pending sales of existing U.S. homes unexpectedly jumped in August to the highest in over a year, data from a real estate trade group showed on Wednesday.

Reuters - U.S. life insurance company MetLife Inc on Tuesday said it expects to report income from continuing operations of $1.38 to $1.58 per share and premiums, fees and other revenues of $8.6 billion in the third quarter.

Reuters - Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain on Tuesday said that if elected president he would order the Treasury Department to buy bad home mortgages and renegotiate them to help homeowners in trouble.

Reuters - U.S. consumer borrowing fell for the first time in more than a decade in August amid tighter credit markets, tougher lending standards and declining consumer spending, a Federal Reserve report showed on Tuesday.