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China, the biggest contributor to world growth, unveiled a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) plan to sustain its economy, spurring gains in stocks, metals and oil.

China's cabinet pledged “fast and heavy-handed investment'' in housing and infrastructure through 2010 and a “relatively loose'' monetary policy, according to a State Council statement yesterday.

Copper jumped more than 8 percent and Asian stocks rallied on optimism the package will limit the depth of a looming global recession and encourage coordinated efforts to revive growth. President Hu Jintao will join crisis talks with world leaders this weekend in Washington, where President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to pass stimulus measures.

“This plan is, by all measures, too large to be ignored,'' said Kevin Lai, an economist at Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong. China may “help the rest of the world by creating more demand for foreign goods and services.''

China's CSI 300 Index of shares closed 7.4 percent higher, the biggest increase in seven weeks. Copper gained as much as 8.4 percent in London. Crude oil, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares, and some Asian currencies also climbed.

China accounted for 27 percent of global economic growth last year, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. The government didn't say how much spending was previously allocated and indicated some will be private investment.

`Diplomatic Initiative'

“If the Chinese use this as a diplomatic initiative, it could be an important step toward a more coordinated response,'' Simon Johnson, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and former chief economist of the IMF, said in Boston.

China's gross domestic product grew 9 percent in the third quarter, the slowest pace in five years, as export orders and industrial production waned and property slumped.

“Over the past two months, the global financial crisis has been intensifying daily,'' the State Council said in yesterday's statement. “In expanding investment, we must be fast and heavy-handed,'' it said, adding that the central bank will pursue a “moderately loose'' monetary policy.

The central bank has already cut interest rates three times in two months, reducing the one-year lending rate to 6.66 percent, and Governor Zhou Xiaochuan flagged yesterday that more reductions may be on the way.

`Urgent' Action

Group of 20 nations, including China, are ready to act “urgently'' to tackle the global slump, finance ministers said after a weekend meeting in Sao Paulo Faxless pay advance.

China's extra spending may boost the nation's economic growth by 2 percentage points next year, said Xing Ziqiang, an economist at China International Capital Corp. in Beijing. Before yesterday's announcement, UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG forecast GDP would rise no more than 7.5 percent next year, the smallest increase in nearly two decades.

“There is still a risk that an increasingly market-driven economy corrects faster than the fiscal package can be implemented,'' said Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. “We need to see evidence in the coming months that the fiscal package is either spurring demand or bolstering sentiment.''

China's plan is the equivalent of about 80 percent of government spending last year.

The package earmarks 100 billion yuan of central- government spending this quarter for low-rent housing, infrastructure in rural areas, roads, railways and airports. Investment by local governments and companies may boost that to 400 billion yuan, the State Council said.

Cutting Taxes

The government will also allow tax deductions for purchases of fixed assets such as machinery to stimulate investment, a move that will reduce companies' costs by an estimated 120 billion yuan.

Grain purchase prices and subsidies for farmers will be raised, along with allowances for low-income urban households. The government also said it had scrapped loan quotas, which limited lending by banks, to help small businesses.

China's move comes as central banks around the world slash interest rates to revive their economies.

The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the People's Bank of China have all lowered rates in the past two weeks. Taiwan, which counts China as its largest trading partner, cut rates late yesterday for the fourth time in two months.

Chinese manufacturing contracted by the most since at least 2004 in October and export orders dropped to their lowest, according to CLSA Asia Pacific Markets. Home sales have plunged in major cities including Beijing and the stockpile of unsold new vehicles was at a four-year high in September.

“The golden years have shuddered to a dramatic halt,'' said Stephen Green, head of China research at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Shanghai.

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With less than two weeks to go before the presidential election, Democratic nominee Barack Obama has a solid 13-point lead over Republican opponent John McCain in Pennsylvania, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

The poll found Obama ahead 53 percent to 40 percent in the Keystone State, compared with 54 percent to 39 percent in Quinnipiac's last poll Oct. 1

The economy is the most important issue for Pennsylvania voters, who trust Obama 54 percent to 36 percent to handle the issue, compared with 55 percent to 36 percent in the previous poll.

“Sen. Obama leads comfortably in Pennsylvania, mostly because he has pulled ahead in the four key suburban counties surrounding Philadelphia where Keystone State races are decided,” said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“Obama is leading among whites and blue collar workers, but white men and 15 percent of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s primary supporters are clinging to Sen. McCain, probably not enough to change the tide in the closing days of the campaign,” Richards added.

Obama also polled higher than McCain in key battleground states Florida and Ohio, the Quinnipiac poll found low fee cash advance. The Illinois senator is up 49 percent to 44 percent over his Republican counterpart in Florida, and leads McCain by an even wider margin — 52 percent to 38 percent —in Ohio.

According to Hamden, Conn.-based Quinnipiac, no one has been elected President since 1960 without taking two of these three states in the Electoral College.

Pennsylvania voters give higher approval ratings for the Democratic nominee for vice president, Joe Biden. Fifty-four percent of likely voters have a favorable opinion of Scranton native Biden, with 22 percent having an unfavorable opinion of him. Only 38 percent of likely Pennsylvania voters had an favorable opinion of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin; 43 percent had an unfavorable opinion of her, according to the poll.

One area where McCain scored higher than Obama in the Quinnipiac poll was the issue of foreign policy. Asked whom they trust more to handle foreign policy regardless of whom they supported for president, 47 percent said McCain, and 45 percent said Obama.

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BancorpSouth Inc.’s net income fell 22 percent in the third quarter as the company put more cash aside to cover expected loan losses.

The Tupelo, Miss.-based bank holding company (NYSE: BXS) posted net income of $28.3 million on $173 million in revenue, compared with net income of $36.3 million on $165 million in revenue in third quarter 2007.

Earnings were 34 cents a share, compared with earnings of 44 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.

A consensus of analysts had expected earnings of 43 cents on revenue of $181.6 million.

The company increased its provision for loan losses to $16 24 hour payday advances.3 million in the quarter, up from $11.2 million in the second quarter.

Non-performing loans, those that are 90 days or more past due and payment is no longer anticipated, increased to $65.2 million, or 0.68 percent of all loans and leases. That was up from $46 million, or 0.49 percent, at the end of the second quarter.

At the end of the third quarter, BancorpSouth had $13.3 billion in total assets.

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An obscure U.S. Treasury Department fund that Robert Rubin once used to save the Mexican economy may provide cash to preserve the savings of investors in U.S. money-market mutual funds.

The Treasury will use the $50 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund to insure publicly offered retail and institutional funds, the department said in a statement. The move comes after the Reserve Primary Fund this week became the first in 14 years to break the buck, or drop below $1 a share, exposing investors to losses.

The ESF — a mix of U.S. dollars, euros and yen — was created in 1934. It enables the department to buy and sell currencies to stabilize the dollar. Because it is outside congressional control, Treasury secretaries have been able to tap it for a number of other purposes, including the 1995 bailout of the Mexican economy orchestrated by then-Treasury Secretary Rubin.

The use of the fund in the past “has been very controversial,'' said Peterson Institute fellow Edwin Truman, former head of the Federal Reserve's international-finance division. “It is, on the basis of its prior use, a stretch to use the Exchange Stabilization Fund for domestic financial- stability purposes.''

Record Redemptions

Nevertheless, Truman said it's “appropriate'' for the Treasury to consider all options. Interest rates on the shortest-maturity Treasury securities fell to almost zero this week as money-market funds, fearing redemptions, rushed to raise cash. Investors pulled a record $89.2 billion from the funds on Sept. 17, according to data compiled by the Money Fund Report, a newsletter based in Westborough, Massachusetts.

The Treasury's use of the ESF doesn't always attract headlines payday advance low fees. Late last year and early this year, Secretary Henry Paulson authorized a bridge loan to Liberia to address some technical issues with the African nation's debt-relief transactions at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

In 1995, however, Rubin's move drew heavy criticism on Capitol Hill, including calls for his impeachment.

The peso was plunging as Mexico appeared close to defaulting on billions of dollars in short-term borrowings. After Congress refused a direct loan, Rubin persuaded former President Bill Clinton to send Mexico $20 billion from the fund, then talked the IMF into lending another $17.8 billion. Mexico later paid back all the money, with interest.

End Run

This time, an end run around Congress isn't likely to create a huge outcry, said Paul McCulley, a portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co.

“You never can legislate the nature of crisis or how it may unfold,'' he said.

The ESF held $49.97 billion as of the end of August. Treasury officials told reporters they don't expect to use the entire amount, since strict rules that require money-market funds to invest in safe assets will likely prevent widespread failures.

Given that some of the fund is in foreign currencies, using it all domestically would require selling euros and yen, which might be tricky, said Wrightson ICAP chief economist Louis Crandall. However, “it could probably be arranged'' with other central banks, he said.

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Fitch Ratings is withdrawing its underlying A rating on the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority’s $203 million refunding revenue bonds, series 2008A.

Due to market conditions, the Expressway Authority did not issue the refunding bonds.

The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority is responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of toll roads in Central Florida bad credit payday loans.

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European Union Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia said he has no “clear idea'' how long the financial-market turmoil will last.

This year “may be one of the hardest years we can remember,'' Almunia said today at a conference in Madrid. “We still don't have a clear idea of how long we'll be living in such a difficult situation.''

The euro-area economy contracted in the second quarter for the first time since monetary union began almost a decade ago, buffeted by record-setting gains in the euro and oil prices, while the yearlong credit squeeze has led in the past two weeks to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the government takeover of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group Inc.

“The degree of optimism has reduced in past six months,'' Almunia said faxless payday loans. “Many thought we were at the beginning of the end of the financial tension.''

Almunia said the European Central Bank has a “clear awareness'' of the dangers inflation poses for the economy, though price growth probably peaked at 4 percent in June and July.

“Inflation in August has started to slow in the euro region,'' he said. “We can expect that this deceleration won't just continue, but will become more evident.''

And this “will help avoid errors of the past with second- round effects,'' Almunia said.

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China may cut interest rates again, ease limits on bank lending and boost spending to spur economic growth after lowering borrowing costs for the first time in six years.

“Policy makers will consider further interest-rate cuts in the coming month, in conjunction with a more proactive fiscal policy,'' said Jing Ulrich, chairwoman of China equities at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong. The central bank yesterday reduced the one-year lending rate and lowered the proportion of deposits that the nation's smaller banks must set aside.

The slowest inflation in 14 months gave China room to lower borrowing costs and protect jobs as the outlook for exports dims and the credit crisis deepens. The rate cut came as stock markets slumped globally after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy and Bank of America Corp. agreed to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. for $50 billion.

“A gradual easing cycle has probably begun,'' said Alec Young, an international equity strategist at Standard & Poor's in New York. “The focus is no longer on inflation and is more on China's growth. The rest of the world is flirting with a recession and China's growth is slowing too.''

The People's Bank of China reduced the one-year lending rate to 7.20 percent from 7.47 percent, effective today. It lowered the reserve-requirement ratio for smaller banks to 16.5 percent from 17.5 percent.

`Important Problems'

The rate cut is “to help solve important problems in our economy for its continued stable and fast development,'' the central bank said in a statement on its Web site yesterday, when markets were closed for a holiday.

In July, the central bank reduced restrictions on how much banks can lend by raising 2008 loan quotas for national banks by 5 percent and regional lenders by 10 percent, according to reports by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., BNP Paribas SA, and China Merchants Bank Co.

It's likely those quotas, the main constraint on borrowers, will be eased again, said Mark Williams, a London- based economist with Capital Economics Ltd. The rate cut will have a limited impact on the economy because bank lending financed just 15 percent of fixed investment last year, Williams said.

The Shanghai Composite Index of stocks has fallen 60 percent this year, closing on Sept. 12 at 2,079.67, on concern that measures to tame inflation will erode company profits.

Stock Market's Drop

It's “suspicious'' that the central bank acted when the index seemed set to drop below 2,000, Williams said, adding that some people thought that level “was a floor at which the government would intervene to shore up the market.''

China last week released data indicating that the economy has slowed no fax payday loans.

Inflation cooled to 4.9 percent in August, export growth slowed and industrial production expanded by the least in six years. China's economy expanded 10.1 percent in the three months to June 30 from a year earlier, the fourth straight quarter of slower growth.

The weakness in China's asset markets is not just in stocks. Property could be headed for a “meltdown'' as home prices and sales decline, Morgan Stanley said Sept. 12.

“This is the beginning of an easing cycle in China,'' said Darius Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at CFC Seymour Ltd. in Hong Kong.

China has already slowed gains by the yuan against the dollar to protect jobs at exporters of shoes, toys and clothes and raised export-tax rebates for garments and textiles.

Infrastructure Spending

Infrastructure spending is a possible tool for stimulating economic growth. Officials are working on a plan for as much as 400 billion yuan ($58 billion) of spending and tax cuts, according to economists and reports in domestic news media.

China's central bank pushed the reserve requirement for lenders to a record 17.5 percent in June. The biggest banks are excluded from the reduction. Those exempted are: Bank of China Ltd., Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank Corp., Bank of Communications Co. and Postal Savings Bank of China.

The requirement for smaller banks drops by 1 percentage point from Sept. 25. In areas affected by the Sichuan earthquake, the reduction is 2 percentage points.

The central bank left the key deposit rate unchanged at 4.14 percent, narrowing banks' margins on loans.

Zhu Baoliang, the chief economist at the State Information Center, a government research agency, said August's economic data probably prompted yesterday's moves, rather than events in the U.S.

In the U.S., banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. formed a $70 billion fund to ensure market liquidity as Lehman filed for bankruptcy and Bank of America Corp. agreed to acquire Merrill. The Federal Reserve may reduce the benchmark interest rate today to 1.75 percent from 2 percent, according to the futures market.

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Novell Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday that it has developed technology that allows businesses to run Waltham, Mass.-based Novell’s open-source operating system on Microsoft servers.

The product is the first that allows companies to run a mixed Windows/Linux IT environment seamlessly, as the operating systems were designed to work, or interoperate, with each other cash till payday.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Novell’s (Nasdaq: NOVL) interoperability lab in Cambridge will test and validate the technology, which will be supported by original equipment manufacturers like Dell Inc.

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Reynolds American Inc. and its subsidiary R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said Tuesday they were cutting about 10% of their American work force as the company restructures its portfolio.

The nation’s second-largest tobacco company said it plans to lay off about 570 workers in Winston-Salem, N.C, where the two companies are based, or about 16% of the work force there.

The cuts are expected to begin in the third quarter and last through the end of 2009.

The company said it expects to record a $90 million pretax restructuring charge in the third quarter of 2008 because of the efforts.

Meanwhile, Reynolds said it was realigning its brands as it tries to "simplify programs and processes, reduce complexity and improve productivity" throughout the company while focusing on innovation and "maximizing trademark equity."

Among the changes: The company is scaling back marketing and promotional support for its Kool menthol brand cigarettes, while boosting the amount of money it spends on Camel brand menthol products.

"The company believes that Camel’s strength provides significant opportunities in the expanding premium-priced menthol category, in which the brand currently has a small but growing position," Reynolds said in a statement.

The Pall Mall label will also remain one of the company’s growth brands.

"Continued success demands that we fully align our plans, programs and people behind the things that matter most to our future performance," Daniel M payday loan online. Delen, chairman, president and chief executive officer of R.J. Reynolds, said in a statement. "The steps we are taking support R.J. Reynolds’ ongoing evolution to a ‘total tobacco’ business model that includes both cigarettes and innovative smokeless tobacco products."

Reynolds (RAI, Fortune 500) shares were unchanged at $51.57 in premarket trading Tuesday. 

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The European Commission cut its growth estimate for the euro area this year and signaled it may also lower its 2009 forecast as the U.S. and Asian economies cool.

The economy of the 15 nations that use the euro will probably expand 1.3 percent this year, the Brussels-based commission said today, revising down its April forecast of 1.7 percent. “Developments in the global economy seem to suggest a significant downward revision for 2009,'' it said, referring to forecasts it plans to publish in November.

Europe's economy shrank in the three months through June and Luxembourg Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker today said there is a “risk of a technical recession.'' Manufacturing and services activity contracted for a third month in August and confidence dropped to the lowest in more than five years. Even with a cooling economy, the European Central Bank has resisted cutting interest rates as it tries to combat inflation.

“Economic activity has slowed down considerably'' in recent months, Juncker, who leads the group of euro-area finance ministers, said in Brussels today. The EU report said growth “is expected to stall'' in the current quarter. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

“We expect economic activity to be essentially stagnant across the region in the second half of 2008,'' said Howard Archer, chief European economist at Global Insight in London. He sees growth slowing to 0.8 percent next year from 1.2 percent this year.

Largest Economy

The commission left its growth forecast for Germany, Europe's largest economy, unchanged at 1.8 percent, and lowered those for France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.

“The continuation of the turmoil in the financial markets one year on, the near doubling of energy prices over the same period and the correction in some housing markets have had an impact on the economy,'' Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in today's report.

While the commission raised its inflation forecast for 2008 to 3.6 percent from 3.1 percent, it said consumer-price growth “may be at a turning point'' after oil prices fell from a record and as past increases in food and energy costs “gradually fade in the coming months.'' The recent fall in commodity prices and the euro also “have provided some relief,'' Almunia said.

Oil Prices

Since reaching a record $1.6038 against the dollar on July 15, the currency has dropped around 12 percent to $1.4163 today. Oil prices have fallen almost 30 percent in the last two months to $103.84 a barrel.

Still, the euro's advance and the surge in energy prices have already taken their toll fastcash. Paris-based L'Oreal SA, the world's largest cosmetics maker, on Aug. 29 reported the slowest profit growth in three years. Stora Enso Oyj and UPM-Kymmene Oyj, Europe's largest papermakers, today said they will close unprofitable production lines as raw-material and energy costs have outpaced their ability to raise prices.

Banks including Amsterdam- and Brussels-based Fortis and Irish Life & Permanent Plc of Ireland have suffered due to writedowns, losses or increased funding costs related to the credit crisis. Credit Agricole SA, France's third-largest bank, today said it will eliminate about 500 jobs at its Calyon corporate- and investment-banking unit to rein in costs following three consecutive quarterly losses.

`Downside Risks'

“The main downside risks identified in the spring forecast have materialized, with the financial turmoil deepening, commodity prices soaring and the shocks to several housing markets spreading more widely,'' the commission said in the report. It sees a “marked deceleration'' ahead in most Asian economies and predicts that the effect of a tax rebate that boosted second-quarter U.S. growth will fade.

The ECB last week lowered its euro-region growth outlook and raised its inflation projections for this year and next. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said today in Brussels that inflation “is likely to remain high for quite some time, moderating only gradually during the course of 2009,''

The European Commission has backed the ECB's monetary- policy stance, with Almunia saying yesterday that policy makers are “doing a good job in difficult conditions and they deserve our full confidence and support.''

Some companies have tried to offset falling European and U.S. orders by expanding in Asia and oil-exporting countries. German exports to India more than tripled in the four years through 2007, according to figures from that nation's statistics office. Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest carmaker, on Sept. 8 said emerging markets will provide the fastest growth in worldwide sales over the next 10 years, led by economic expansion in Asia and Russia.

“The risks to the growth outlook stay tilted to the downside. In particular, developments in commodity and financial markets will continue to be the key factors shaping the growth outlook,'' the commission said. “The risks to the inflation outlook appear somewhat more balanced, albeit they are still tilted to the upside.''

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