Economy

Trichet Says Congress Must Back Bailout Plan For `Sake of Global Finance' European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet said U.S. lawmakers must pass a $700 billion rescue package for banks to shore up confidence in the global financial system.

Consumer Confidence in U.S. Unexpectedly Increased Before Stocks Plunged Consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in September in a survey taken before the recent worsening of the credit crisis and plunge in stocks.

Banks Borrow More From ECB; One-Day Lending Rate Six Times Fed Benchmark Demand for cash from the European Central Bank soared as the global credit crisis deepened and banks stopped lending to each other.

U.S. Heading for Deeper Economic Slump, With or Without Paulson's Bailout The U.S. may face its longest recession in a quarter century no matter what action Congress takes on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion plan to rescue the battered banking industry.

Germany, U.K. May Swallow Criticism, Adopt Paulson-Style Bailout Package European politicians are discovering what cometh after pride.

South Korean Inflation Rate Probably Slowed, Increasing Chance of Rate Cut South Korea's inflation probably slowed in September, indicating prices may have peaked and giving the central bank scope to consider an interest-rate cut to bolster flagging economic growth.

Cameron to Say `Character and Judgment' Trump Brown's `Experience' in U.K. Conservative leader David Cameron plans to refute U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's suggestion that he's a ``novice'' by saying the government's leadership needs character and judgment more than experience.

Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index Slows as New Orders, Inventories Drop A measure of U.S. business activity slowed for the first time in seven months in September as new orders and inventories weakened.

German Unemploment Fell More Than Forecast in September: Table of the Day Following is a summary of Germany's September seasonally adjusted unemployment figures from the German Federal Labor Office in Nuremberg:

Fed Watch

Fed Injects Additional $630 Billion Into Financial System to Stoke Lending The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.

Fed May Get Authority to Pay Interest on Reserves as Part of Bank Rescue Congress's $700 billion legislative compromise to revive credit markets would also expand the Federal Reserve's power to manage short-term interest rates.

Bernanke Tries to Extricate Himself From Fight Over Rescue Plan He Backed Ben S. Bernanke jumped into the political fray this week when he urged quick action from Congress to deal with ``grave threats'' to the financial system. Now he's trying to jump back out.

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