THE share market was lower at noon, as nervous local investors await the outcome of tonight's US House of Representatives vote on a new version of the $US700 billion ($888 billion) bailout of the financial markets.
HOME borrowers may be disappointed next week if the major banks use global money market turmoil as an excuse not to pass on all of an expected cut in official interest rates.
THE share market closed lower today, dragged down by mining and financial stocks as investors await the US vote on a new version of the bailout package.
US bank Wells Fargo said today it was buying its rival Wachovia for $US15.1 billion, in a deal that emerged after Wachovia had been in talks with Citigroup.
WORRIED Australians have sunk $30 billion in cash into deposit accounts in the past six months - a trend the banks are aggressively encouraging as they seek to bolster balance sheets eroded by the global financial crisis.
FRENCH leaders scrambled to reassure consumers, voters and investors today, after the official statistics agency warned that the eurozone's second largest economy had slipped into recession.
THE House of Representatives today re-convened to debate a revised economic rescue package, approved by Senate and sent back to the lower chamber after it kicked it out earlier in the week.
A MELBOURNE father of two has avoided jail after admitting he had sexually explicit internet conversations with a girl he thought was 13-years old but turned out to be an undercover police officer.
MORE than 150 years after the original rush, gold fever is again gripping Ballarat after a pair of amateur prospectors uncovered a reef worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in historical diggings.
MEDIA identity Derryn Hinch faces jail for the second time after leaking the names of two convicted sex offenders at a public rally and publishing their names on a website in breach of court orders.
