After a weekend of meetings in Washington and Paris, finance ministers from leading industrialized nations have pledged to work together to tackle the financial crisis.   ┬á The G7 nations (the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada) issued a five-point plan of "decisive action" to unfreeze credit markets, after their first meeting in Washington Saturday. ┬á┬á The plan is intended to protect major banks and financial institutions from failure and ensure they can raise capital from public and private sources.

General Electric said Friday that its profit declined for the third straight quarter due to lower earnings at its financing arm, GE Capital, during the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.  GE, a 106-year-old economic leader whose products range from lightbulbs to power-plant turbines, generated higher profit from a strong demand for its electricity-generating turbines and jet engines, and its energy, technology, and NBC Universal businesses.

Symantec Corp.

 Symantec Corp.

Wal-Mart Stores, the worldÔÇÖs largest retailer, and Costco Wholesale said September sales rose as cash-strapped consumers worried by the Wall Street crisis looked for discounts on food and toiletries. ┬á Wal-MartÔÇÖs sales rose 2.4 percent for the month at stores open at least a year while Costco reported a 7 percent monthly sales increase.

The Federal Reserve announced it is going to buy massive amounts of commercial paper in an effort to break through a credit crunch that has endangered the economy. ┬á In alliance with the Treasury Department, the Fed is planning to buy ÔÇ£commercial paper,ÔÇØ a way of borrowing money for short periods typically ranging from a day to less than a week, and a mechanism that many companies use to finance their day-to-day operations, such as purchasing supplies, finance payrolls, and other cash needs.

After Wells Fargo announced last week that it was set to buy Wachovia for $15.1 billion, Citigroup has now objected, demanding that it be called off, saying the new deal has breached its exclusive acquisition rights. ┬á The Wells Fargo deal had trumped an earlier government-backed rescue deal that Citigroup had proposed, in which it would buy WachoviaÔÇÖs banking operations for $2.2 billion. ┬á Wells offered to buy all of Wachovia for more money without government aid, to which Wachovia had decided not to honor its prior agreement with Citigroup.

Wells Fargo, the largest bank on the West Coast, agreed to buy Wachovia Corp. for $15.1 billion in stock, creating one of the worldÔÇÖs biggest banks and defeating Citigroup Inc.ÔÇÖs offer four days ago for part of the lenderÔÇÖs assets. ┬á Citigroup, the biggest bank in terms of assets by mid-year said late last month that it planned to buy WachoviaÔÇÖs operations for about $2.16 billion. The transaction had been supervised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and assisted by the government.

Automobile sales fell sharply in the United States last month, giving another sign that the problems in the financial sector are working their way through to the general economy.  ┬á All the major auto manufacturers saw sales fall in September compared with the same month a year earlier, with Nissan suffering a 37 percent decline. ┬á┬á Sales at Ford were down 34 percent over last September, while Chrysler was down 33 percent, Toyota 32 percent and Honda 24 percent.

BHP BillitonÔÇÖs bid for rival mining group Rio Tinto emerged from the shadows today as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it would not oppose the bid on competition grounds.┬á "The proposed acquisition would not be likely to substantially lessen competition in any relevant market," said ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel in a statement.