
Troubled US investment bank Lehman Brothers has reported a massive third quarter net loss and outlined radical plans to strengthen its finances.

The United States government decision to place its leading mortgage agencies into conservatorship will help support markets and by extension the economic and financial situation said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a Monday release.

President George Bush announced mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been taken over because they posed an unacceptable risk to the economy. The two companies account for nearly half of the outstanding mortgages in the US, and have lost billions of dollars during the US housing crash.

The US economy is facing slow growth and higher prices, according to the most recent survey by the Federal Reserve. Economic activity was weak, soft or subdued across the country, said the Fed's latest Beige Book report.

Troubled US investment bank Lehman Brothers has several parties interested in buying into the cash strapped institution according to Wall Street analysts. These include the state controlled Korea Development Bank and Europe's biggest bank HSBC Holdings together with a Chinese bank.

Oil prices have fallen after weather forecasters said Hurricane Gustav had weakened as it hit the US Gulf of Mexico coast south-west of New Orleans.

Hurricane Gustav began to lash the southern Louisiana coastline early Monday as it moved closer to an expected midday landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The mayor of New Orleans has issued a mandatory evacuation order for the entire city, as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the US Gulf Coast.

Barack Obama made history as he became the first African-American to win the presidential nomination of a major US political party.
The US economy grew at a revised 3.3% annually in the second quarter of 2008, said on Thursday the Commerce Department, much higher than the original estimate of 1.9%.