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North American stock markets were awash in red as commodities prices continued to decline and electronics retailer Best Buy diminished optimism for U.S. investors when it issued a profit warning.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index fell 170.90 points in early trading to 9,253.10, after falling 264.80 points on Tuesday.

The TSX energy sector slipped 2.9 per cent as the price of crude oil continued to fall. Light sweet crude for December delivery was down $2.01 at US$57.32 a barrel on the Nymex.

The gold sector was down 4.5 per cent as the price of bullion fell $8.50 to US$724.30 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrials were down 191.55 to 8,502.41 after falling 177 points Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite index lost 29.15 to 1,551.75 while the S&P 500 declined 17.69 to 881.26.

The TSX diversified metals sector slid 10.6 per cent. Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX: TCK.B) dropped another seven per cent, or 64 cents, to $8.11. On Tuesday, Teck said that contrary to rumours, it is not planning a stock offering to raise money to pay debt.

The Canadian dollar dropped to 82.21 cents, down 1.37 cents from Monday's official close, before Tuesday's Remembrance Day bank trading holiday.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the federal government will purchase another $50 billion in residential mortgages to ease the credit crunch facing Canadian banks. It follows a similar move last month to purchase up to $25 billion in mortgages.

Retailers continued to erode optimism around the start of the holiday shopping season. Consumer electronics seller Best Buy Co. says it is cutting its 2009 guidance on fears that consumer spending will erode even further.

Department store operator Macy's Inc. says it lost $44 million in the third quarter. U.S. investors are worrying that a severe pullback in consumer spending – which drives more than two-thirds of the U payday advance services.S. economy – will prolong a global economic slump.

ING Canada Inc. (TSX: IIC) reported a third-quarter profit drop to $57 million from year-earlier $92 million due to stock market volatility. Shares were down 23 cents to $31.60.

Research in Motion (TSX: RIM) debuted its latest challenge to Apple Inc.'s iPhone – the BlackBerry Curve 8900 smart phone, as its shares dropped 93 cents to $53.98.

Fears are growing for General Motors Corp. and the North American-based auto industry in general, with Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm calling for quick federal action to help the Detroit Three. Granholm says Washington has thrown $700 billion into the rescue of the financial sector, and the carmakers are "just asking for a fraction of that."

President-elect Barack Obama urged President George W. Bush on Monday to support aid for the struggling automakers. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's confident Congress would approve “emergency and limited financial assistance" for the industry under the $700-billion bailout measure passed in October.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson gives an update on the government's financial rescue package later this morning (at 10:30 a.m. ET).

Overseas, London's FTSE 100 index was down 0.48 per cent in afternoon trading in London. The German DAX fell 2.1 per cent and the Paris CAC-40 lost 1.2 per cent.

The Bank of England predicted inflation will fall below the government's target of two per cent next year as the economy contracts. This raised expectations that the British central bank will lower its benchmark rate – possibly to the lowest level ever.

Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1.3 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.7 per cent.

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North American markets ended yesterday in positive territory as investors shook off disappointing employment figures and went hunting for stock deals.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index rose 40.80 points to close at 9,596.21, capping off another turbulent week of triple-digit swings in both directions.

But the index ended the week more than 1 per cent lower as lingering sentiment about deeper economic problems next year partnered with a further shift lower in oil prices.

The TSX energy sector fell 1 per cent as the price of crude ended down 10 per cent from a week earlier, with the near-month light sweet crude contract closing the session up 27 cents at $61.04 (U.S.) a barrel.

The mining index headed the advance by climbing 6 per cent as Sherritt International Corp. increased 7 per cent, or 23 cents, to $3.41.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 1.72 points to 921.85.

The Canadian dollar closed up 0.26 of a U.S. cent to 84.18 cents.

Buyers returned to Wall Street markets after two dismal days.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 248.02 points to 8,943.81. The Nasdaq composite index rose 38.70 to 1,647.40 while the S&P 500 moved up 26 american cash advance.11 to 930.99.

Bad news piled up from the auto industry, with General Motors Corp. reporting a $2.5 billion loss in the third quarter, or $4.45 a share.

Ford Motor Co. reported a third-quarter net loss of $129 million as it burned through $7.7 billion in cash. Ford also said it is cutting 10 per cent of its North American salaried workforce.

German automaker Daimler AG said its global sales in October slid 18 per cent from a year earlier.

Although the day’s news was worse than expected, investors were drawn by prices beaten down the past two sessions.

"We’re coming off of a very oversold market that had already braced itself for bad news out of Detroit and certainly bad economic data in terms of the labour report," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners.

On the TSX, gold stocks were ahead 4.9 per cent.

The bullion contract for December moved ahead $2 to $734.20 an ounce – ending the week up 2.2 per cent.

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It took two tumultuous weeks of moral and fiscal debate, but Congress and the Bush administration on Friday finally put a capstone on the $700 billion bailout of the financial system.

President Bush signed the bill less than two hours after the plan, which had been amended and passed by the Senate on Wednesday, was approved by the House.

The changes the Senate made include the addition of a host of tax break extensions and some new provisions intended to help individuals and businesses.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the economic rescue plan’s main provisions:

Attacking credit crisis: The core of the plan the House voted on is the same as what it rejected on Monday: the Treasury’s proposal to let financial institutions sell to the government their troubled assets, mostly mortgage-related. It will allow the Treasury access to the $700 billion in stages, with $250 billion being made available immediately.

Protecting taxpayers: The final law is also similar to the original House bill in that it includes a number of provisions that supporters say will protect taxpayers. One will direct the president to propose a bill requiring the financial industry to reimburse taxpayers for any net losses from the program after five years. And the Treasury will be allowed to take ownership stakes in participating companies.

In addition, over time, supporters say, taxpayers are likely to make back much if not all of the money the Treasury uses because it will be investing in assets with underlying value.

The law includes a stipulation that the Treasury set up an insurance program - to be funded with risk-based premiums paid by the industry - to guarantee companies’ troubled assets, including mortgage-backed securities, purchased before March 14, 2008.

Curbing executive pay: The law will place curbs on executive pay for companies selling assets or buying insurance from Uncle Sam. For example, any bonus or incentive paid to a senior executive officer for targets met will have to be repaid if it’s later proven that earnings or profit statements were inaccurate.

Oversight: The rescue plan will set up two oversight committees.

A Financial Stability Board will include the Federal Reserve chairman, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, the Federal Home Finance Agency director, the Housing and Urban Development secretary and the Treasury secretary.

A congressional oversight panel, to which the Financial Stability Board will report, will have five members appointed by House and Senate leadership from both parties.

Tax breaks: The Senate-version of the bill that the House passed on Friday included three key tax elements designed to attract House Republican votes.

It extends a number of renewable energy tax breaks for individuals and businesses, including a deduction for the purchase of solar panels.

The law also continues a host of other expiring tax breaks (cash loans). Among them: the research and development credit for businesses and the credit that allows individuals to deduct state and local sales taxes on their federal returns.

In addition, the law includes relief for another year from the Alternative Minimum Tax, without which millions of Americans would have to pay the so-called "income tax for the wealthy."

New accounting rules: The bailout plan underlines the Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to change accounting rules on how banks and Wall Street firms value securities, and directs the agency to study the issue.

Some observers argue that tight accounting rules are a major reason for the credit crisis in the first place. Others contend that changing the so-called mark-to-market rules will just bury problems lurking beneath the surface and could further shake investor confidence in the already battered financial sector. (More about the rules.)

Shielding bank deposits: The law temporarily raises the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000 from $100,000. It allows the FDIC to borrow from the Treasury to cover any losses that might occur as a result of the higher insurance limit.

Federal bank regulators, who first floated the idea to Congress late Tuesday, said that bumping up the insurance limits will help improve liquidity at banks across the country. It may also provide a much-needed dose of confidence for consumers who may be worried about the health of their bank. (More about FDIC rules.)

The plan will also temporarily increase the level of federal insurance for credit union savings to $250,000.

Mitigating foreclosures: The new law calls on federal agencies to encourage loan servicers to modify mortgages by a number of means - including reducing the principal or interest rate. It also extends a temporary provision that exempts from federal income tax any debt forgiven by a bank to a borrower in a foreclosure.

Cost: The law’s tax provisions - the bulk of which come from the addition of tax breaks from other legislation - may reduce federal tax revenue by $110 billion over 10 years, according to estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation. More than half of that is due to the one-year extension of AMT relief.

The Congressional Budget Office said it cannot estimate the net budget effects of the troubled asset program because of the many unknowns about that piece of the bill. However, the agency noted in a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday, it expects the program "would entail some net budget cost" but that it would be "substantially smaller than $700 billion."

Overall, the CBO said, "the bill as a whole would increase the budget deficit over the next decade." 

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The United States needs to act urgently to shield its economy from an escalating credit crisis and Europe must ready plans in case its problems worsen, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

“We’re right at the moment where action is needed,” IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told Reuters.

“A non-perfect plan is better than no plan at all,” he said of the $700 billion bank bailout plan rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday.

Strauss-Kahn said restoring market confidence required the bailout plan to be passed quickly and for the U.S. public to understand what is at stake unless the economy starts to function properly again.

As the crisis has spread beyond Wall Street, European countries have stepped up their efforts to avoid bank defaults as concerns grew that more institutions would fail, prompting the Irish government to guarantee all bank deposits.

The lack of a pan-European regulator makes it more difficult to respond to the crisis in the event of the collapse of a big bank whose business crosses borders, Strauss-Kahn said.

“Developing a contingency plan does not mean it’s announcing a lot of trouble coming. But they’re not totally immune (from the U.S. financial crisis), and so they need to organize. At the European level this is totally needed.

“The EU rules make it much more difficult than in the U.S.,” to act across borders, he said. 

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The White House is lowering its forecast for economic growth this year and next, held back by the toll of the housing, credit and financial debacles.

Under the Bush administration’s new forecasts, gross domestic product is estimated to grow by only 1.6% this year. That’s down from a 2.7% growth projection made earlier this year.

Growth next year is expected to clock in at 2.2%, also lower than the 3% growth rate previously estimated by the White House’s budget office payday loan online.

The budget office increased its estimate for next year’s budget deficit to a record $482 billion. 

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JPMorgan Chase said Thursday that profit plunged in the second quarter, stung by $1.1 billion in writedowns, but the firm still managed to beat Wall Street projections.

JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) shares jumped 10% in early trading. Other banking firms - including Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500), Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) - also posted strong stock gains.

The New York-based bank reported net income of $2 billion in the second quarter, a 53% drop from $4.2 billion in the second quarter. The firm said earnings on a per-share basis fell 55% to 54 cents from $1.20 in the year-earlier period.

Analysts had expected a 64% decline in earnings per share to 44 cents, according to a consensus provided by Thomson/FirstCall.

But without a $540 million net loss stemming from its acquisition of Bear Stearns - which closed in May - net income would have been $2.5 billion, the company said.

"[JPMorgan] earnings are significantly better than what analysts have been looking for because the negative hysteria, panic, fear - whatever you want to call it that hit these stocks - made no sense whatsoever," said Richard Bove, analyst for Ladenburg Thalmann.

Bove said that financial firms tend to be multi-faceted, which allows them to compensate for the weak portions of their business with the stronger performing sections.

The firm reported $19.7 billion in second-quarter net revenue, a 1% decline from a year earlier. That beat the $16.5 billion projected by analysts surveyed by Thomson/FirstCall.

"Our earnings were down significantly due to the unfavorable credit environment and market conditions," CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns on May 29 for $2.2 billion, or $10 a share. The deal allows JPMorgan to expand its financial footprint, though it also has has to clean up the mess from its imploded acquisition.

Housing hit Dimon said the plummet in investment bank net income, to $400 million in the second quarter from $1.2 billion a year ago, was partly due to mortgage-related investments.

He blamed the drop in profit in retail financial services on higher charges to the home lending portfolio. Profit in that division fell to $600 million from $785 million a year ago.

"However, the firm overall continued to maintain solid underlying business momentum," Dimon said, noting that some other areas of the company performed well.

Commercial banking net income grew to $355 million in the quarter, up from less than $300 million a year earlier payday advance.

Despite the decline in earnings, and drop in share price - JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) stock has plunged 29% so far this year without counting Thursday’s gains - the firm is considered one of the stronger companies in the banking industry.

As the year has progressed, analysts have become increasingly concerned about JPMorgan’s performance, particularly in its large leveraged loan portfolio and rapidly weakening home-equity loan holdings.

But the firm’s troubles seem manageable compared to other participants in the devastated industry, such as Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500).

"I think we’re executing quite well," Michael Cavanagh, chief financial officer, said during a call with journalists. "The conditions continue to be choppy. A lot of stuff is resolving itself and working itself through."

"At a point, it will stabilize, but I would be cautious for the near term," he added.

Bank sector woes Both large and small financial institutions that bet big on the mortgage industry continue to be plagued by ongoing deterioration in the housing market. Now with signs that the economy is weakening further, analysts are paying particularly close attention to banks’ credit card and auto loan portfolios for signs of rising delinquencies.

JPMorgan said its auto loan net profit slipped 2% on a year-over-year basis to $83 million. The firm’s credit card net profit plunged 67% to $250 million.

JPMorgan’s results come at the start of what is expected to be a particularly difficult second-quarter bank reporting period.

Despite Wednesday’s better-than-expected numbers from Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500), both Merrill Lynch and Citigroup are expected to book losses for the quarter. Merrill is due to report earnings after the market close Thursday. Citigroup’s results are slated for release early Friday.

Wachovia (WB, Fortune 500), which reports on July 22, warned last week that it expects to lose between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion during the second quarter. Profits for Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), due out on July 21, are expected to be less than half of what they were just a year ago.

Bove, the analyst, does not own banking stocks and his firm does not conduct business with them. 

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Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines, the world’s eighth-biggest container shipping firm, is looking to raise $5-$7 billion in loans, banking sources said on Monday, the clearest sign yet it will bid for Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd.

The merger of the two companies could potentially create the world’s number three container shipping group, behind Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and privately-owned Mediterranean Shipping Co.

The talks come as German tourism group TUI (TUIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Michael Frenzel tours Asia to market his company’s container shipping business, Hapag-Lloyd, which analysts value at around $7 billion, including debt.

NOL (NEPS.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has a market value of $3.5 billion and several analysts have said any merger will require the financial support of its major shareholder, Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings TEM.UL.

“This certainly looks like a merger in the works,” said a fund manager at a European investment firm, who asked not to be named because he cannot publicly talk about individual stocks.

Analysts in Germany said the possible financing highlights NOL’s seriousness in pursuing the bid.

“NOL is a potential bidder for Hapag-Lloyd,” said Jochen Rothenbacher, an analyst at German brokerage Equinet cash advance loan no fax. “It should be seen positive for TUI that NOL is in talks to take up $5-$7billion.”

A spokesman for NOL declined to comment, but in April NOL Chief Executive Thomas Held, who is a German national, said NOL was looking at a merger with Hapag-Lloyd as an option for growth. 

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NEW YORK–Citigroup Inc. says it will eliminate about 9,000 more jobs, after poor bets on defaulting loans and the tumultuous credit markets lopped $14 billion (U.S.) in value from the bank’s investments during the first quarter.

That writedown, plus more than $3 billion in costs related to consumers’ credit problems, led Citigroup to a quarterly loss of $5.1 billion. The loss was $1.02 per share, compared with a a profit of $1.01 a year earlier.

Citigroup said it has cut 13,200 jobs since the credit crisis began slamming the industry last summer. The bank announced 4,200 cuts in January, and more workforce reductions are likely.

"We’re very, very focused on efficiency," chief executive Vikram Pandit said in a conference call yesterday.

The most recent quarterly shortfall at the biggest bank in the United States by assets was not as massive as the nearly $10 billion loss suffered in the fourth quarter of last year, though. But analysts, on average, had expected the New York-based bank to lose only 95 cents per share, according to a Thomson Financial survey.

"We’re not happy with our financial results this quarter, although they’re not completely unexpected, given the assets we hold," Pandit said.

With significant exposure to problematic mortgages and leveraged loans, Citigroup remains at risk for further writedowns easy quick payday loans. As a result, Fitch Ratings downgraded the bank’s credit rating, while Moody’s Investors Services and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services took actions that indicated Citigroup might be downgraded in future if its assets deteriorate firther.

Still, the $14 billion in writedowns compared with $18 billion marked down after the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, revenue came to $13.2 billion. That was about half what the bank pulled in during the first quarter of 2007, but was more than the average analyst forecast, for $12.8 billion. The bank’s revenue was padded by its global consumer segment and global wealth-management business.

The bank ousted chief executive Chuck Prince late last year and promoted Pandit, a former Morgan Stanley investment banker, during a scramble for cash.

In December and January, Citi raised more than $30 billion through sales of assets and stock to outside investors, some of them funds run by Asian and the Middle Eastern governments. Citibank also has slashed costs and reorganized the bank’s mortgage business and wealth-management unit.

Citigroup, like other banks, still faces a deteriorating environment for consumer lending.

To prepare for more consumer-loan losses, the company added about $2 billion to its reserves.

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NEW YORK — With little money left after buying food and fuel, American shoppers handed most retailers their most dismal March in 13 years.

As retailers reported sales results on Thursday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. were among the few winners, as shoppers stuck to basics. Wal-Mart raised its earnings outlook, noting that better inventory control helped to limit markdowns on merchandise. It also said April sales should top previous expectations.

But March proved to be bleak for most others, including J.C. Penney Co., Gap Inc., and Limited Brands Inc. All of them reported sharp drops in sales. Even high-end department stores like Saks Inc., languished; Saks noted that jewelry and designer women’s apparel were among the weakest areas.

Merchants faced a slew of obstacles to improving sales: record gas prices, rising food costs, a weaker job market, slumping house prices and an early, frigid Easter. The weather may be warming now, but the rest of those problems aren’t likely to dissipate soon.

"Consumers are buying what they need," said Jennifer Black, president of Jennifer Black & Associates, an equity research company in Lake Oswego, Ore. For everything else, shoppers are being pickier and focusing on discounters, she said.

According to a preliminary tally by UBS-International Council of Shopping Centers, sales slid 0.5 percent versus its original estimate of 1 percent growth first cash advance. The results, based on same-store sales or sales at stores opened at least a year, were the weakest since March 1995.

The retail industry already had been bracing for a weak March because Easter landed two weeks earlier than last year, on March 23 when winter weather still gripped most of the country. It was the earliest in 95 years. Retailers also had one less shopping day in March compared to a year ago.

A deteriorating economy, soaring food and gas prices, limited credit and slumping house prices shook shoppers further. The Conference Board, a business-backed group, said late last month that consumers’ outlook for the economy was the gloomiest in 35 years.

Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, says that the malaise could continue into 2009.

The rebate checks, he said, will "buy retailers some time," but without an improvement in key areas like housing, a recovery in spending won’t happen anytime soon.

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BEIJING — Even morning smog can’t completely obscure the bright facades of hundreds of new high-rise corporate structures as you motor down a thorough