WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Wednesday largely abandoned its plan to buy up toxic mortgage assets and said it will focus its $700 billion financial bailout fund on making direct investments in financial institutions and shoring up consumer credit markets. The U.S. Treasury Department initially promoted the financial rescue package approved by Congress last month as a vehicle to buy illiquid mortgage assets from banks and other institutions to spur fresh lending.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sank on Wednesday for the third day after the United States backed away from using its $700 billion bailout to mop up sour mortgages and added to uncertainty about how the government plans to revive bank lending. A dismal forecast from Best Buy added to anxiety about a worsening economy after the largest U.S. electronics chain said consumers were slashing spending, creating the worst climate in the company's 42-year history.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chip giant Intel Corp cut its fourth-quarter revenue forecast by about 14 percent citing weak demand across the world and in all its products, indicating the economic crisis is set to hurt computer sales in the holiday season and beyond. The shock warning hammered tech shares, which had already tumbled earlier on Wednesday, with Intel plunging 7 percent to a 12-year low and Microsoft Corp falling 2 percent to a 10-1/2 year low.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. foreclosure activity in October rose 25 percent from a year earlier, although filings in California fell by double-digit percentage points for the second consecutive month due to a state law slowing the foreclosure process, according to a monthly report by RealtyTrac. Foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sales notices and bank repossessions -- rose by 5 percent from September to 279,561 in October, according to Irvine, California-based research firm RealtyTrac.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers plan to question chief executives of stricken U.S. automakers on their pleas for an industry bailout, while the Bush administration responded coolly on Wednesday to an aid plan being shaped by Democrats. Administration officials and some lawmakers expressed concern about industry viability, considering the automakers are churning through cash and have a poor near-term outlook. One Democrat, New York Sen. Charles Schumer, wants assurances Detroit will not seek yet more money in six months.

BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co has secured the temporary backing of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for up to $139 billion of the debt of its finance arm, a spokesman said on Wednesday. "We are eligible now and included in the FDIC temporary liquidity guarantee program," said Russell Wilkerson, a spokesman for the U.S. conglomerate.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government's $700 billion bailout fund is unlikely to be enough, with the financial system needing more than $1 trillion to get through the crisis, two of Wall Street's top dealmakers said on Wednesday. The global crisis appears to have passed its most intense phase, seen around the time of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc in September, but financial institutions still face losses in the fourth quarter and early next year as the economy and credit quality deteriorate, said Gary Parr, deputy chairman of investment bank Lazard Ltd .

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Crocs Inc posted a deep quarterly loss on Wednesday as sales of its once-trendy, colorful plastic shoes plunged and it racked up high restructuring costs, sending its shares down 37 percent in extended trading. The former Wall Street darling also outlined several new measures to slash costs and streamline the bloated company, including shutting a Brazilian manufacturing plant and reducing capital expenditures for next year by 50 percent from 2008 levels.

PERTH (Reuters) - Oil fell for a third straight day on Thursday to hit a 22-month low of $55 a barrel as mounting pessimism about the global economy outweighed OPEC's comments that it could cut output again as early as end-November. OPEC officials, concerned about oil's steep drop from record highs over $147 a barrel per day (bpd) in July, said the cartel could possibly decide by the end of the month to cut production again to raise prices.

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