NEW YORK (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.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday gave a dour assessment of the U.S. economy, citing a "significant threat" from shuttered credit markets in remarks that indicated he was open to cutting interest rates further.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Big investors will be required to disclose their short positions to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under an interim final rule issued by the SEC on Wednesday night.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online auction leader eBay Inc gave a disappointing forecast that promised little holiday cheer and said it was suffering from a widespread consumer spending slowdown that would drag on into 2009, sending its shares down 3.5 percent.
PARIS (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.
Business 
