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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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The outlook for U.S. stock markets improved dramatically Wednesday morning after the Federal Reserve and European central bankers announced a coordinated emergency rate cut.

The Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark discount rate by 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent. The European Central bank reduced its benchmark to 3.75 percent and the Bank of England cut its benchmark to 4.5 percent. Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland also reduced rates. In a joint statement, the central bankers said they were taking the acting because “the recent intensification of the financial crisis has augmented the downside risks to growth.”

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped to a 24.10 point gain to 1,029.90 at 7:02 a.m., two minutes after the Fed’s announcement. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 512 points to 9,690 (payday loan).00 and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 27.25 points to 1,364.25.

Prior to the Fed’s announcement, the S&P 500 futures contract had tumbled as much as 43 points on the heels of steep declines overseas. The Nikkei 225 declined more than 9 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as investors fretted about a global recession and the S&P 500 Index below the 1000 level for the first time in five years Tuesday.

European stock markets rebounded swiftly; nearly erasing loses of as much as 5 percent. The FTSE 100 Index was down 20 points, or 0.24 percent, to 4585.11 on the London Stock Exchange at 7:06 a.m.

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A N.Y. judge has put a temporary hold on Wells Fargo & Co.’s proposed $15.1 billion buyout of Wachovia Corp., Citigroup announced Saturday night.

Judge Charles Ramos of the N. Y. Supreme Court has ordered Wachovia (NYSE:WB) to court on Friday. He will hold a hearing on whether the Wells deal violates Wachovia's earlier agreement to sell its banking operations to Citigroup for $2.16 billion.

Until then, his order issued stops Wachovia and Wells from consummating the deal.

The Wachovia/Citigroup deal was brokered Sept. 29 with the help of federal regulators. Citigroup (NYSE:C) says it includes an exclusivity agreement that prevents Wachovia from negotiating an acquisition by anyone else.

On Oct. 2, Wachovia announced it negotiated a deal with San Francisco-based Wells (NYSE:WFC). That calls for the sale of the entire bank holding company to Wells for $15.1 billion. The Wachovia board approved that deal last Friday.

Wells has insisted there is no bar to its deal with Citigroup, based in New York (fast cash). Now Ramos has called Wachovia into court to defend that position.

The court records were not available Sunday morning. But Citigroup says Wachovia objected to the proceedings and attempted to head off the order.

Citigroup says it is prepared to resume its negotiations to buy most of Wachovia’s assets. Some parts of the bank, such as Wachovia Securities, are not part of that deal, which involves financial guarantees from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The proposed Wells deal would include no such guarantees.

Citigroup says it has been providing funds to Wachovia to preserve its liquidity since the Sept. 29 agreement. It says it was completing the requirements of the deal when Wachovia made its surprise announcement late last week.

Wachovia officials could not be reached for comment.

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U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Timothy Black has granted class-action status to a 2005 lawsuit filed against Fifth Third Bancorp officials, including members of its board of directors, alleging that they mismanaged the company’s employee retirement plan by investing in Fifth Third stock.

The lawsuit was filed by Conn.-based law firm Scott+Scott on behalf of all plan members from September 2001 to the present. It also claims that Fifth Third officials breached their fiduciary duties by charging the plan excessive investment management fees, including by double- or triple-dipping by investing plan assets in Fifth Third’s family of mutual funds through Fifth Third investment affiliates. Fifth Third and the individual defendants have denied the allegations (instant payday loan).

The lawsuit has been split into two for trial purposes, one to consider claims related to the company’s internal controls following its acquisition of Old Kent Financial in 2001 and the other to consider the excessive fees allegations. The former trial is set to begin next March; the latter in September.

Fifth Third and its employees are being defended by lawyers at Keating Muething & Klekamp. Most of the outside directors are being represented by lawyers at the Cincinnati office of Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease.

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The European Central Bank on Thursday signaled it might cut interest rates for the first time in five years as credit strains paralyzed money markets.

Interbank lending rates extended their upward march, reflecting tightness in credit markets, while a sharp fall-off in U.S. commercial paper issuance indicated businesses were having an extremely difficult time raising short-term capital.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, speaking after the central bank left rates unchanged, highlighted further risks to the European economy from the credit crunch, suggesting the once inflation-leery official was warming to the idea of bringing rates down from the current 4.25 percent.

Trichet said ECB policy-makers recognized “the extraordinary high level of uncertainty stemming from latest developments” on turbulent financial markets and the credit crunch. “Economic activity in the euro area is weakening with contracting domestic demand and tighter financing conditions,” he said.

“The ECB is adopting a substantially softer tone, which opens the door for a future interest rate cut,” said Howard Archer, chief European economist at Global Insight.

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S faxless payday advance. Federal Reserve officials are weighing further interest rate cuts, even if Congress approves a $700 billion financial industry bailout, because of a worsening economic outlook.

A rate cut is still far from certain, partly because of inflation worries, the WSJ said in an unsourced report on its website.

The change in the ECB’s tone reflected a rapid deterioration in the global credit situation. The year-long crisis has seen the downfall of such staple corporate names as Lehman Brothers and AIG, and bank failures have become frequent. 

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The Federal Trade Commission has granted early termination to the waiting period for Napster's deal to sell itself to Best Buy Co. Inc., according to a filing Napster made with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.

The $121 million deal announced Sept. 15, which values Los Angeles-based Napster (NASDAQ: NAPS) at $2.65 per share, was granted early termination of the waiting period on Sept. 30, according to the SEC filing.

Through the deal, "Best Buy intends to use Napster's capabilities and digital subscriber base to reach new customers with an enhanced experience for exploring and selecting music and other digital entertainment products over an increasing array of devices," said Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) president and chief operating officer Brian Dunn when announcing the deal Sept payday advance. 15.

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After a tumultuous Monday on Wall Street, stocks of many Louisville-area banks and corporations bounced back in Tuesday morning trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which lost 7 percent of its value Monday, gained 235 points, or 2.3 percent, as of about 11:30 a.m. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 indices both gained 3 percent Tuesday morning.

The stocks of regional banks followed the markets.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) rose 21 percent, or $1.88, to $10.99.

Cleveland-based National City (NYSE: NCC), which suffered a 56 percent loss Monday on buyout speculation, rose 39 percent, or 53 cents, to $1.89 in Tuesday morning trading.

Trading for other banks with local operations were as follows: JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) rose 9 percent, or $3.88, to $44.89; PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE: PNC) added 4.5 percent, or $3.07, to $71.07; and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was up 5.6 percent, or $1.83, to $34.58.

Stock in Louisville-based S.Y. Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: SYBT), parent company of Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co., increased $1.59, or 5.8 percent, to $29.14 no teletrak payday loans. Louisville-based Republic Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCAA), parent company of Republic Bank & Trust Co., increased $1.88, or 6.6 percent, to $30.23.

Other stocks of local interest that showed gains in Tuesday morning trading were:

• Almost Family Inc. (NASDAQ: AFAM) increased $1.18 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $38.73;

• Brown-Forman Corp. (NASDAQ: BFB) increased $1.79, or 2.6 percent, to $71.70;

• Churchill Downs Inc. (NASDAQ: CHDN) increased $1.24, or 2.7 percent, to $46.68;

• Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) increased 31 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $42;

• Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) increased 35 cents, or 8.4 percent, to $4.52;

• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) increased $1.04, or 4.5 percent, to $24.13;

• Kindred Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: KND) increased 33 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $26.90.

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