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U.S. stock markets were headed for a lower opening bell Friday as investors awaited the latest data on consumer spending.

Futures tied to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 19 points to 943 at 7:40 a.m. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 153 points to 9073. Nasdaq 100 futures retreated 30 points to 1315.

The Commerce Department is scheduled to release personal spending figures Friday. The average forecast is for a 0.2 percent decline in September. Personal incomes are forecast up by 0.1 percent freecreditreport.

European stock markets gave up ground Friday. At 7:36 a.m. the FTSE 100 Index was down 91 points, or 2 percent, to 4200 on the London Stock Exchange. The Dax Index slipped 5 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4864 on the Frankfort Stock Exchange.

Overnight, the Nikkei 225 dropped 453points, or 5 percent, to 8577 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

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Continental Airlines Inc. is waiving the first checked bag fee for its Chase credit and debit cardmembers.

On Oct. 7 the Houston airline began charging $15 each way for some economy-class passengers checking a bag.

Customers traveling with the primary cardmember are also be eligible for the waived fees if they are listed in the same reservation and check in at the same time.

Presidental Plus cardmembers can check up to two bags free, according to Continental (NYSE: CAL) one hour cash loan.

There are more than one million customers carrying some form of the airline’s credit or debit card, said Mark Bergsrud, senior vice president of marketing programs and distribution, in a statement.

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The Group of Seven industrialized nations failed to halt the yen's advance to near a 13-year high against the dollar after expressing concern about the currency's “excessive volatility.''

The G-7 made an unscheduled statement after a request from Japan, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said in Tokyo today, adding that his government was ready to act if needed. The G-7 fell short of pledging concerted action to halt the yen's gain.

“Issuing such a statement is a sign of failure to intervene,'' said Eisuke Sakakibara, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University who was the Finance Ministry's top currency official from 1997 to 1999. “The Japanese government may have consulted with their counterparts in the EU and the U.S. and they couldn't persuade them to intervene.''

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 6.4 percent today to a 26-year low as the soaring yen erodes earnings of exporters such as Canon Inc. The currency has gained as the risk of a global recession and a slump in global stock markets prompted investors to sell assets bought by borrowing in Japan, where interest rates are the lowest among industrial nations.

“We reaffirm our shared interest in a strong and stable international financial system,'' the G-7 statement said. “We are concerned about the recent excessive volatility in the exchange rate of the yen and its possible adverse implications for economic and financial stability. We continue to monitor markets closely, and cooperate as appropriate.''

The yen rose to 93.54 per dollar as of 2:52 p.m. in Tokyo from 94.32 late Oct. 24. Japan's currency has climbed 14 percent against the dollar this month and 28 percent versus the euro.

Canon's Profit

Canon, Japan's largest office-equipment maker, reported third-quarter profit fell 21 percent as the surging yen undermined overseas revenue.

“The Japanese authorities must have thought it was important to address this as a shared G-7 concern,'' said Tomoko Fujii, head of economics and strategy at Bank of America Corp internet payday loans. in Tokyo. “Otherwise the markets would think this is a Japan- specific problem that would make any unilateral'' selling of the yen by Japan less effective.

A study published this month by Marcel Fratzscher, an economist at the European Central Bank, of reaction to the group's statements since 1975 found that it is most successful when viewed as credible by investors and its message is supported by every official and repeated in the weeks after the meeting.

The statements also wield power if the governments and central banks back up their words with intervention in the markets, the study said.

Aso's Plan

Separately Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso said he'd draft measures to help counter the financial crisis.

The proposals Japan's government is considering include a resumption of state purchases of shares owned by Japan's banks, said Hakuo Yanagisawa, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker charged with dealing with the financial crisis. The decline in the stock market has eroded the value of shares banks hold as part of their capital.

Japanese banks tumbled on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today after media reports said they may seek to raise extra capital to offset unrealized losses on shareholdings. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. sank more than 10 percent.

Japan hasn't sold its currency since March 2004 when the yen was trading at 103.42 against the dollar. The Bank of Japan, acting on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, sold 14.8 trillion yen ($157 billion) in the first three months of 2004, after record sales of 20.4 trillion yen in 2003.

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Wall Street’s Friday sell-off was not as bad as some had feared, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average working off a good part of its 500 point morning loss.

By the closing bell, the Dow was still down 312 points, a 3.6 percent Friday loss, closing at 8379. For the week, the Dow fell 5.4 percent. The S&P500 Index lost 7 percent in weeklong trading, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 9 percent this week.

Friday’s selloff followed even steeper one day losses for major markets in Asia and in Europe free credit report without a credit card. In London, the FTSE100 Index fell 5 percent Friday. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 9.6 percent Friday.

The S&P500 Index is now down just over 40 percent this year.

Commodity prices also continued to fall, with crude oil futures in New York dropping below $65 a barrel.

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SunTrust Banks Inc.’s profit dipped about 26 percent in the third quarter, as the company weathered the challenging credit environment and had rises in net charge-offs, nonperforming loans and credit-related expenses.

The Atlanta-based banking company (NYSE: STI) had net income of $307.3 million and earnings of 88 cents a share, compared with net income of $412.6 million and earnings of $1.18 a share in the third quarter of 2007.

Revenue rose 20.7 percent to $2.5 billion.

Allowance for loan and lease losses jumped 77.4 percent to $1.9 billion.

SunTrust is Greater Baltimore's seventh-largest bank when ranked by deposits.

Total assets were down 0.6 percent to $174.8 billion. Average consumer and commercial deposits for the third quarter of 2008 were $100.2 billion, up 3.6 percent from the third quarter of 2007.

Average loans climbed 5.1 percent to $125.6 billion, primarily in commercial-related categories. Average construction loans declined 23.3 percent to $3.2 billion, due to efforts to reduce exposure to construction loans and the transfer to nonaccrual loans guaranteed approval cash advance loans.

"SunTrust's continued profitability and improved capital position not only underscore our resiliency in a quarter marked by unprecedented industry turmoil, but also serve as a realistic basis for our confidence that we will continue to manage successfully — albeit not unscathed — through the challenges that our industry clearly will face in the period ahead," said CEO James M. Wells III, in a news release. "We also believe that there will be attractive growth opportunities for SunTrust in the near future. With that in mind, we will continue to take the steps necessary for us to be able to capitalize on those opportunities."

Wells noted some "signs of slowing credit deterioration," but charge-offs, which were in line with expectations in the third quarter, are likely to remain at elevated levels into 2009.

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The state Department of Revenue is holding a new business workshop on Nov. 25 to educate businesses that are encountering business-related tax issues for the first time.

The free workshop will be help from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 1321 Murfreesboro Road in Nashville on the eighth floor. Tax specialists from various local and state agencies will provide the basic information needed to comply with registration and tax requirements payday advance lenders. Areas of discussion will include business tax, sales and use tax, unemployment tax and tax enforcement procedures.

Businesses may register online at www.tennessee.gov/revenue or by calling (615) 532-4975.

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China's economy, the biggest contributor to global growth, expanded at the slowest pace in five years as the financial crisis cut demand for exports.

Gross domestic product rose 9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in Beijing today. That was less than any of the 12 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey and the 10.1 percent gain in the previous three months.

The fifth quarter of slowing growth may exacerbate declines this year in iron ore, copper and oil prices and undermine demand for exports within Asia, where economies are already contracting. The cabinet announced yesterday tax cuts for exporters and increased infrastructure investment and the central bank may be poised to cut interest rates for the third time this year.

“This will shake confidence and underscores that no one is immune,'' said Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist with Royal Bank of Scotland Plc in Hong Kong. He predicts three more rate cuts by the middle of next year and a further easing of lending restrictions.

Inflation cooled to 4.6 percent in September, the slowest pace since June 2007, on easing commodity prices.

The CSI 300 Index of stocks fell 0.3 percent as of the 11:30 a.m. trading break in Shanghai. The yuan traded at 6.8295 against the dollar as of 11:44 a.m. from 6.8296 before the data was released.

Spreading Crisis

The economists' median estimate was for a 9.7 percent expansion. Growth is slowing across Asia, where Japan's economy shrank in the second quarter and Singapore has tumbled into a recession.

Financial market turmoil and a global slowdown “have started to have a negative impact on China's economy,'' Li Xiaochao, a statistics bureau spokesman, said at a briefing. “The subprime crisis that broke out last year in the U.S. is still spreading and deepening and has caused a global financial crisis.''

China's economic expansion was the weakest since the second quarter of 2003, when growth slumped because of the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, epidemic.

The contribution of trade to growth halved to 1.2 percentage points in the first nine months from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said. Export growth may slow “substantially,'' Li said.

Investment, Output

Urban fixed-asset investment climbed 27.6 percent in the first nine months from a year earlier, after a 27.4 percent increase through August, today's data showed.

Industrial production rose 11.4 percent in September, the slowest pace in more than six years excluding seasonal distortions, on weaker export orders and factory closures for the Olympic Games.

Retail sales rose 23.2 percent last month from a year earlier, matching the gain in August and close to the fastest pace in at least nine years.

Urban disposable incomes for the first nine months rose 14.7 percent to 11,865 yuan ($1,737) from a year earlier. Rural cash incomes climbed 19.6 percent to 3,971 yuan. Those numbers were boosted by inflation.

The State Council yesterday cited slower growth in fiscal revenue and company profits and “volatility and sluggishness'' in stocks as signs of the effects of the global crisis no qualifying payday advance.

Demand for Steel

Rio Tinto Group, the world's second-largest aluminum producer, last week flagged “significantly weaker'' demand for the metal in China. Prices for Chinese imports of iron ore also fell to a 19-month low on cooling demand from steelmakers.

About half of China's toymakers have shut down this year, with 7,000 workers losing their jobs in factory closures this month by Smart Union Group Holdings Ltd. in Guangdong province, state media say.

Export growth may plummet from 22 percent in the first nine months of this year to “zero or even negative growth'' in 2009, according to Stephen Green, head of China research at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Shanghai.

The central bank has stalled gains by the yuan against the dollar since mid-July, protecting jobs in export industries.

Weakness in the property market is also a threat. Home sales by volume plunged 55.5 percent and 38.5 percent in Beijing and Shanghai in the first eight months from a year earlier, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the China Real Estate Association.

The State Council said yesterday that it would increase the supply of low-cost housing and reduce property transaction fees.

Slumping Stocks

The CSI 300 Index of stocks has fallen 66 percent this year.

“The panic in the stock market has spread to the property market,'' said Sherman Chan, a Sydney-based economist at Moody's Economy.com. “Declines in asset prices make people feel less wealthy and they will cut back on consumption and then investment growth will slow.''

A fiscal surplus and a world record $1.9 trillion of currency reserves allow the government to step up spending.

The International Monetary Fund estimated this month that China's economy may expand 9.3 percent next year compared with growth of 0.1 percent in the U.S., 0.2 percent in the euro area, and 0.5 percent in Japan. China was the biggest contributor to global growth last year, according to the organization.

“In the past China has been successful in responding quite quickly to increase spending, particularly on infrastructure, to offset the decline in export growth,'' Charles Collyns, the IMF's deputy director of research, said Oct. 8.

Easing inflation cleared the way for two interest-rate reductions in a month, the latest on Oct. 8, when the U.S. Federal Reserve and five other central banks also made cuts in an emergency bid to thaw credit markets.

The nation needs “flexible and prudent'' economic policies to promote steady and rapid growth, the statistics bureau's Li said.

Producer prices rose 9.1 percent last month after the 10.1 percent gain in August that was the biggest since 1996.

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Houston-based Waste Management Inc. on Monday withdrew its $6.73 billion bid to take over Florida trash hauler Republic Services Inc., paving the way for its planned merger with Allied Waste Industries of Phoenix.

Waste Management (NYSE:WMI) officials pointed to the current state of the financial markets in its decision.

"We believe that it would not be prudent to continue to pursue the acquisition of Republic," Waste Management CEO David Steiner said in a news release approved payday advance in seconds.

Republic (NYSE:RSG) reached a $6.2 billion takeover deal for rival Allied Waste (NYSE:AW) in June with the headquarters to be located in Phoenix.

Republic shares closed up $2 on Monday to end the day at $24.50. The 52-week high was $36.52 on Sept. 19. The 52-week low was $19.99 Oct. 10.

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Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said the government may inject public money should the global credit turmoil threaten the nation's financial institutions.

“Japan started considering public fund injections just in case something happens,'' Nakagawa said in a joint briefing with Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa after the two met with Group of Seven counterparts in Washington today.

The global credit crisis wiped out more than $670 billion in market value from the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section this week, depleting corporate capital and raising concern that Japan's financial institutions aren't immune from collapse. Yamato Life Insurance Co. yesterday became the first Japanese insurer in seven years to file for bankruptcy, citing a decline in the value of its securities holdings.

Nakagawa made the remarks after the G-7 issued a statement saying the member nations will “use all available tools'' to prevent the failure of financial institutions and ensure they can “raise capital from public as well as private sources.''

Nakagawa, also financial services minister, said yesterday he may revive a law that allows the government to pump public funds into regional lenders. The legislation expired in March.

Damage Limited

He and Shirakawa said the effect of the global financial crisis on Japan has been limited relative to the U.S. and Europe, where banks are shunning lending to each other for fear they will lose the money or because they need it themselves.

Japanese banks have largely recovered from the malaise of the 1990s, when the collapse of stock- and property-market bubbles left lenders with trillions of yen in bad loans. Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano said yesterday that the banking sector hasn't weakened to the point where the law needs to be revived.

“Banks aren't in such bad shape that they require public- fund injections at this point,'' Yosano said, hours after Yamato announced it would file for bankruptcy.

Japan poured 12.4 trillion yen ($123 billion) into the nation's banks between 1998 and 2003, forcing mergers that cut the number of nationwide lenders to seven from more than 20. More than 9 trillion yen has already been repaid with the government generating a return in excess of 10 percent.

Nakagawa said he told the meeting that Japan is ready to contribute money to the International Monetary Fund's emergency lending program to help countries that could face financial difficulties as a result of the crisis.

Currency Moves

He also said the G-7 officials discussed the recent sharp movements in currencies at the meeting.

“We shared the view that excessive, disorderly movements in currencies aren't good,'' he said.

The yen posted its biggest weekly gain in a decade against the dollar as the global stock rout prompted investors to sell higher-yielding assets and pay back low-cost loans in Japan. Japan's currency surged 10.8 percent against the euro and 5.4 percent versus the dollar this month, eroding exporters' repatriated profits and making their products less competitive.

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Wells Fargo & Co. has emerged victorious in its weeklong tug-of-war with Citigroup Inc. over Wachovia Corp. and will proceed with its $15 billion purchase of the troubled bank.

The Wells-Wachovia combination creates the nation’s third banking powerhouse, with about 10,700 branches and 12,200 ATMs stretching from coast-to-coast. Wells Fargo and its ubiquitous stagecoach will now roll from New York City to Miami in the East, through Texas and into the West with branches from San Diego to Seattle.

The combined company, to be called Wells Fargo and based in San Francisco, will have $1.42 trillion in assets, $787 billion in deposits and 280,000 employees.

Wells Chairman Dick Kovacevich, CEO John Stumpf and their team will have their hands full in the days and weeks ahead, handling triage among Wachovia employees who became increasingly nervous about their futures as Wells and Citigroup fought over the Charlotte bank.

Wells (NYSE: WFC) is expected to avoid layoffs, if possible, in the largest acquisition in the company’s 156-year history. Even in making last year’s in-market, Bay Area acquisition of Greater Bay Bancorp, Wells kept the vast majority of the acquired bank’s employees (direct faxless payday loans).

“We know this has been a time of great uncertainty for Wachovia (NYSE: WB) team members and many of its customers as their company has gone through a very painful and challenging time of unprecedented change in our industry,” Wells Fargo’s Stumpf said. “We want to assure them we’ll do everything we can to make the integration of our operations as smooth as possible. An important measure of success for this integration will be our ability to retain as many of the talented Wachovia team members as possible.”

Although Wells is acquiring Wachovia, the San Francisco bank is likely to find a few gems at the Charlotte bank to extend into Wells Fargo territory beyond Wachovia’s huge presence in the East. Wells Chairman Dick Kovacevich told analysts about a year ago that Wells Fargo’s customer service in retail banking had room for improvement. Wachovia has consistently won high marks in that department. Wachovia’s Way2Save program is also a candidate for going national under the Wells Fargo banner.

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