Reuters - Stocks slid on Wednesday after the United States backed away from using the $700 billion bailout fund to buy troubled mortgage assets, adding to investors' worries about consumer spending.

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Reuters - The U.S. Treasury backed away from using a $700 billion bailout fund to cleanse bank balance sheets of toxic mortgage debt, while Europe reported more gloomy economic news and the World Bank warned that international trade may contract in 2009.

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Reuters - Legislation is needed to address mortgage servicing companies' failure to do enough to help distressed borrowers stay in their homes, the head of a key U.S. congressional committee said on Wednesday.

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AFP - US authorities are scrapping plans to buy up toxic mortgages securities and shifting the focus of a massive financial rescue plan, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday.

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AP - An already disheartened Wall Street turned sharply lower Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the government won't buy banks' soured mortgage assets after all, disappointing investors who hoped to see the bad debt wiped off companies' books. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 270 points, and all the major indexes dropped more than 2 percent as the market retreated for a third straight session.

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Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday said he was backing away from buying troubled mortgage assets using a $700 billion bailout fund, instead favoring a second round of capital injections into financial institutions that would match private funds.

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