A 900-point rally at Dow Jones industrials left investors and market-watchers astounded on Tuesday as the index shot up to its second-largest point gain ever. Both the Dow Jones as well as Standard & Poor 500 index rose by 11%.

Analysts appear to be divided on the reason for the huge rally at the stock indices as late-day bargain hunters stormed the market. some felt that investors were eager to buy stocks in the belief that the Dow Jones has fallen far too low – it lost as much as 500 points in the last two days – to fall any further and can only rise now.

Other experts however felt that buying earlier in the day was the result of expectations that the Federal Reserve would announce a rate cut on Wednesday. This was then followed by the market keeping in with its recent trend of building on the gains or losses in the last stages of a session.

However the recent volatility in stock markets indicates that the huge gain might not be sustained for long. Wall Street stocks have sustained immense losses in the past few weeks which have knocked off 2400 points from the Dow in just eight sessions. This has prompted many market veterans to warn that the indices might witness a see-saw motion – huge gains followed by huge losses.

Facing the worst economic crisis since Roosevelt won the 1932 elections, the newly-elected President of United States will not get much time to savour his victory. He will be under pressure to announce his economic policy priorities as well as his key staffers as soon as possible to reassure the domestic populace as well as international audience.

The new president is generally given 77 days to effect a transition which is more often than not tumultuous. however given the series of pressing matters clamouring for the new president’s attention it is vital say many experts of public management that the transition be organized. Besides economic matters that the president elect will have to address as soon as he assumes office, are foreign policy issues related to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as national security.

Among the most important events line up for the newly elected president of the United States is the meeting of world leaders slated for November 15 in Washington DC. representatives from developed and emerging economies will expect the incoming president and his economic team – including the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the National Economic Council – to take the lead in fashioning global financial policies.

Kuwait propped up its country’s second-largest bank while its central bank suspended trading in Gulf Bank shares on Sunday as stock markets in the Middle East plunged steeply, belying expectations that the oil-rich region will escape the worst of the global financial crisis.

The oil-rich Gulf States are now facing the effects of the global credit crisis which has wreaked havoc in financial markets across economies of the world. On Sunday, the central bank of Kuwait halted trading in Gulf Bank shares due to high derivative losses which in turn led to shock waves across the region’s bourses. Key stock indices went down by 3.5% to as much as 5% and levelled out only after the bank announced that it was considering wide-ranging deposit guarantees.

The developments come only a day after the finance ministers of the Gulf states assured investors that its banks were safe from the effects of the global financial crisis, partly because of an oil money buffer the oil-rich countries built during years of high fuel prices. However the events are proof that even the oil-rich Gulf economies cannot escape the consequences as they try to sustain massive spending and high economic growth rates in the midst of falling oil prices and bank uncertainty.

PNC Financial Services, a regional bank based in Pittsburgh, is set to acquire the struggling National City bank for $5.58 billion in a deal that will lead to the creation of the fifth-largest bank in United States.

In an announcement on Friday, PNC said that it was ready to pay $5.58 billion for the Cleveland-based bank National City which has been fighting to stay afloat for the past two years. PNC further revealed that it was raising $7.7 billion in cash by selling its preferred shares to the US Treasury. This move marks a direct effect of the $700 billion bank bail out which the US Congress approved last month.

PNC is the tenth bank to have benefited from the cash infusion approved in the federal bail out package. This has enabled PNC to acquire another holding at a much cheaper rate than would have been otherwise possible. Matthew Schultheis puts the matter succinctly when he says that essentially PNC is buying National City at a “very inexpensive price and with taxpayer money”.

The PNC takeover deal marks the first acquisition to be carried out by the bail out money and is in line with Treasury expectations that the infusion of credit into the financial system will facilitate increased lending which had come to a virtual standstill after the market meltdown.

In an attempt to counter the effects of the global financial crisis now spreading to the smaller economies, the IMF announced on Sunday that it had arrived at a tentative agreement to loan Ukraine $16.5 billion over the next two years.

The announcement was made by Dominic Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Even though the decision is yet to be approved by the IMF executive board, officials of the 185-nation lending organization said that it was committed to prompt action in order to avoid an economic crisis in Ukraine.

Ukraine became the second nation to receive economic support from IMF – two days after the international agency agreed to bail out the economy of Iceland with a $2 billion loan package. The global credit crunch has left lceland’s banking industry- the mainstay of the small nation’s economy – in shambles and it became the first Western country to receive aid from the IMF in more than three years.

The worldwide market crisis has resulted in major economies struggling to thaw frozen credit lines and restore investor confidence. The crisis led to unprecedented and coordinated bail outs by the governments of developed as well as emerging nations, the heads of which are also slated to meet next month in the US national capital.

Japan vowed to take new measures on Monday to protect its economy from the continuing fall-out of the global financial crisis and announced that the Group of Seven nations would come up with a joint statement on the yen.

The Nikkei average plunged to a 26-year low as investors dumped banking stocks and said that they need fresh capital infusion to offset losses in their stock portfolio. The bloodbath at the stock markets prompted Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso to declare that the government will expand its bank bailout plan and enforce regulations on short-selling of stocks.

Economic minister of Japan Kaoru Yosana too tried to reassure the financial sector by stating that the country’s prime minister had ordered action to stabilize markets and bolster the economy. He further added that the nation’s bank bailout scheme should be raised to almost $110 billion.

on a separate platform, Japan’s finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, announced that the Group of Seven nations would issue a joint statement on the yen and the G-7 countries are expected to cooperate appropriately on foreign exchange markets. Last week the yen had spiralled to the highest level in several years against the dollar and the euro as investors unwound risk and sought to invest in the yen.

US auto maker, Chrysler LLC, will cut down its salaried workforce by 25% by the end of this year, the company announced on Friday.

Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler is one of the country’s three major auto manufacturers, the other two being the much bigger General Motors Corp and Ford Motors Corp. Chrysler’s decision to reduce its workforce by almost a quarter will affect at least 5000 employees out of a total 18500 white-collared workers. The company official also said that the job lay offs will mainly affect Chrysler’s salaried and supplemental workforce.

David Elshoff, spokesman of Chrysler said that the salaried employees of the company who stood to lose their jobs would be offered buyouts as well as retirement packages. However its supplemental workforce, which comprised of employees of external contractors working at Chrysler plants, would be not be offered any such packages. Details of the offer are expected to emerge after being finalized and will be explained to the employees over the next two weeks. If however not enough employees are willing to accept the voluntary exit package, the company will begin involuntary lay-offs through December, said a Chrysler spokesman.

Chrysler LLC is privately owned by Cerberus Capital Management and has reportedly been negotiating with General Motors for a buy-out or a merger.

United States saw the biggest ever drop in the average retail price of a gallon of gasoline over the past two weeks as the pressure of an economic recession kept demand low and drivers stayed off the roads.

Results of a Lundberg survey revealed that the national average price for a gallon of self-serve, regular unleaded gas was $2.7785 on October 24, thus marking a fall of around 53 cents a gallon in the last two weeks. Also gasoline is currently about a penny cheaper than it was a year ago and $1.33 lesser than the record peak it had reached on July 11 when the prices of crude oil had touched $147 a barrel. The survey included around 7000 gas stations across the country.

Analysts believe that the significant fall in the average retail price of gasoline was occasioned by the sharp decline in crude prices and then substantiated by depressed demand from consumers, most of who chose to cut down on the use rather than shell out the extra cash. Survey editor Trilby Lindberg predicted that prices will likely slide still further but not at the rate at which it had fallen in the last two weeks.

On Friday, prices of crude oil settled down by nearly $ 4 a barrel, driven by fears of a global economic recession despite an OPEC decision to cut oil output.

The IMF announced on Sunday that it had arrived at a broad understanding with Hungary on a set of financial policies, which would provide assistance to the Central European economy and enable it to deal with the impact of the global credit crisis.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, revealed that details of the financial assistance would be available in the next few days after the plan is finalized. Strauss-Kahn however said that the plan would include “a substantial financing package” and would involve a wide spectrum of international organizations. Besides the 185-nation strong International Monetary Fund, other regional and multi-lateral organizations like the European Union as well as a few European nations were expected to be part of the plan to accord financial assistance to Hungary.

The weekend saw IMF coming out with plans for financial assistance to countries like Ukraine and Hungary in an attempt to bolster the smaller economies as they struggle to survive with the effects of the global financial crisis. Few days back, Iceland became the first Western nation in the last three years to receive financial aid from the International Monetary Fund after its economy was ravaged by the collapse of the country’s banking industry.

Porsche SE announced Sunday that it plans to increase its holding in Volkswagen AG to 75% next year and outlined steps that would enable it to attain the goal while keeping stock volatility low.

Based in Stuttgart, Germany, Porsche is the maker of the 911 sports car. Currently Porsche owns 42.6% in Volkswagen’s common stock and has cash-settled options for another 31.5%. Porsche intends to acquire at least 50% stake in Volkswagen by December this year.

Volkswagen is the largest car manufacturer in Europe and ever since March this year, it has caught the attention of Porsche which wants to effect a take over. The acquisition will help Porsche to boost sales as it gears to meet fierce competition from international car makers.

Along with automakers in North America, those in Europe too are facing the full brunt of global economic slump. Last week PSA Peugeot Citroen reported that its third quarter revenue had fallen by 5.2% while Renault SA reported a 2.2% slide. The world’s second-largest maker of heavy trucks, Volvo AB, cut its outlook for the rest of the financial year and Toyota Motor Corp recorded the first drop in sales in the last seven years.