Reuters - Online auction leader EBay Inc gave a disappointing forecast and said it was suffering from a consumer spending slowdown that would drag on into 2009, sending its shares down more than 5 percent.

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday that turmoil in credit markets poses a "significant threat" to the U.S. economy, suggesting more interest-rate cuts could be coming to help stave off a deep downturn.

Reuters - Gloomy economic data and warnings from the U.S. Federal Reserve that hard times were still to come wiped out two days of relative optimism about the credit crisis and sent markets into free-fall on Wednesday.

AP - With October auto sales expected to fall short of September's 15-year low, General Motors Corp. is launching a campaign this week to reach people who have stopped looking for cars out of fear that they can't get a loan.

Reuters - Wall Street had its worst day since the 1987 stock market crash on Wednesday, as bleak economic data fed worries that all the efforts to unlock credit markets may not stave off a severe recession.

Reuters - EBay Inc warned on Wednesday that its full-year revenues would fall below its previous forecast as the Internet company restructures to reinvigorate growth in its main online auctions business.

Reuters - French power company EDF said on Wednesday it would not make a competing bid for U.S. power company Constellation Energy Group Inc because the credit crisis has made financing more difficult to obtain.

Reuters - Stocks dropped on Wednesday as bleak economic data fed worries that despite all the efforts to unlock credit markets, the economy is unlikely to avoid recession.

Reuters - Economic activity weakened across the United States in September as businesses revised capital investments, consumers curtailed spending and the general outlook darkened, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

Reuters - French state-controlled electricity giant EDF said on Wednesday it had dropped plans to table a new bid for Constellation Energy as the credit crisis has made corporate financing more difficult to obtain.