BASF Halts 80 Factories; Oil Prices Slide to $53 a Barrel; Chinese Automakers Ask for Gov’t Aid; October Housing Starts Hit 49-Year Low; Honeywell Lands Engine Deal; Fed Sees Year-long Recession; Holiday Sales and Traffic to Plummet; BJ’s Profit Jumps 24%

eBay’s Copy Cat Move; Mortgage Applications at New Low; FDIC Extends Help to IndyMac Customers; Oil’s Wild Ride; Suntech Stock Shines; BJ’s Stock Slump; HP Beats Expectations; TVA Hikes Rates 20%

In a rare press conference yesterday President Bush tried to assure Americans that their banking system was “sound.”

Bush’s comments didn’t do much for investors confidence. Shares in troubled mortgage outfits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tumbled, along with most other financial stocks.

The bottom line is the U.S. financial system is now beyond credibility, as James Howard Kunstler puts it. And Dubya and his Republican party will be remembered as the party that broke America.

Retailers Report 4.3% Bump in Sales; Toyota Changes Direction; Whirlpool Closes Two Factories; Brazil and Vietnam Come Together; GE Spin-Off; New Wachovia CEO; IAM Wants Fair Bidding; Oil Jumps Over $5 on Political Tension

When U.S. Department of Energy analysts told you more than a month ago that gasoline prices would peak at about $4 a gallon around Memorial Day, we told you they were wrong. Gas prices, we said, were destined to head much, much higher.

Takeda Acquires Millennium for $8.8 Billion; Gas Prices Driven to Another Record High; Jobless Claims Drop; Car Sales in India Up Again; China’s Trade Deficit Narrows; 100,000 Angry Airline Passengers; Favorable Amgen Ruling; BJ’s Wholesale Club Gains on Sales Increase.