Business and Finance news

The U.S. Treasury committed $6 billion to support GMAC LLC, the financing arm of General Motors Corp., widening the government’s effort to keep the largest U.S. automaker out of bankruptcy.
The Treasury will purchase a $5 billion stake in GMAC and lend $1 billion to GM so the automaker can contribute to the lender’s […]

After an unusual three-day slide, Treasurys bounced back Wednesday, resuming their nearly uninterrupted upward trend that has persisted since mid-September.
Bond investors bought up Treasurys after government reports on jobs, durable goods, consumer spending and personal income confirmed continued economic weakness and a poor labor market.
Bonds fell earlier in the week as the Treasury Department […]

Confidence among Japan’s small and mid-sized companies fell to a record low after factory output tumbled on weakening global demand.
Shoko Chukin Bank’s index of sentiment slid to 29.4 points this month, the lowest since the survey began in February 1985, according to the monthly report of 1,000 companies by the bank. A number […]

Vietnam cut the benchmark interest rate to 8.5 percent, the biggest reduction this year, to avert an economic slowdown amid a worsening global financial crisis.
The State Bank of Vietnam lowered the key rate from 10 percent, effective Dec. 22, according to an e-mailed statement from the bank today. Policy makers also reduced the […]

Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region shrank less than anticipated in December, rebounding from an 18-year low as a slump in new orders slowed.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index was minus 32.9 this month, the 11th negative reading this year, after minus 39.3 in November, the bank said today. Negative numbers […]

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said Britain’s inflation rate may fall next year to the lowest since 2002, indicating policy makers will keep cutting borrowing costs.
King, writing to Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling to explain why inflation exceeds the government’s 3 percent upper limit, said the rate may fall below 1 […]

Sri Lanka’s credit rating was cut to five levels below investment grade by Standard & Poor’s, citing mounting public debt and political and security concerns.
The nation’s long-term foreign currency rating was lowered by one notch to B from B+, S&P said in a statement today. The new rating places the country on par […]

Japanese machinery orders fell in October as the deepening global recession choked off demand for the country’s cars and electronics.
Orders, an indicator of capital spending in the next three to six months, slid 4.4 percent from September, when they rose 5.5 percent, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. Bookings received from abroad, […]

The financial crisis is recasting the league table of economies, with the U.K. sliding behind its European neighbors and China gaining on its richer rivals, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research Ltd.
A recession and a decline in the sterling’s value pushed the U.K.’s gross domestic product below France’s this year […]

Bank of America shareholders approved the company’s bold acquisition of Merrill Lynch on Friday, paving the way for one of the biggest mergers ever in banking.
Investors in the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank voted in favor of the deal at a special shareholder meeting Friday, after Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) shareholders approved the sale earlier […]