Catepillar Inc., the worldÔÇÖs largest maker of construction and mining equipment, saw third-quarter profit slip 6 percent, as higher raw material costs offset record global sales. ┬á ÔÇ£We expected that material and freight costs would increase in the second half of 2008, and they did in the third quarter,ÔÇØ Jim Owens, chairman and chief executive of Catepillar, said in a statement.

The Exelon Corporation, the largest US operator of nuclear power plants, made an unsolicited offer to buy rival NRG Energy Inc. for $6.2 billion.  In a letter to NRG president and chief executive office David Crane and chairman Howard Cosgrove, Exelon proposed to acquire all of NRGÔÇÖs outstanding common stock in an all-stock transaction. The deal would create the largest power company in the US, worth about $60 billion and with a generating capacity of about 47,000 megawatts, enough electricity to serve nearly 45 million homes, according to Exelon.

ItÔÇÖs crisis, what crisis? for online search engine Google, which has defied the credit crunch to post a 26 percent rise in profits for the third quarter. ┬á┬á┬á  Google recorded earnings of $1.35 billion in the third quarter of 2008, outstripping analysts' expectations. The company attributed the growth to its core online search and advertising businesses. ┬á┬á Quarterly revenue, including commissions to affiliated advertisers, rose 31 percent to $5.54 billion.

Production at US factories last month fell by 2.8 percent, the largest decline since December 1974, according to a report released today by the Federal Reserve. The decrease in production at factories, mines and utilities far exceeded analystsÔÇÖ forecasts and followed a 1 percent decrease in August, the Fed said. The Fed said that production fell 6 percent for the third quarter, the largest drop since 1991, almost doubling the 3.1 percent drop for the second quarter.

Sales at US retailers dropped in September by the most in three years due to increased job losses, plunging home prices, and the deepening credit crisis rattling consumers. ┬á Purchases fell 1.2 percent, more than forecast, followed by a .4 percent decline the prior month. ┬á Consumer confidence is down, largely due to last weekÔÇÖs big decline in stock prices, the largest in at least seven decades. Consumers are cutting back on non-essentials like new cars and vacations, leading to an even deeper economic slump.

Daimler AG, the worldÔÇÖs largest maker of heavy vehicles, will close its Sterling Trucks division in North America, cutting 3,500 jobs as it aims to halt production and move manufacturing to Mexico. ┬á The Sterling brand, a maker of medium-sized models which accounts for 15 percent of DaimlerÔÇÖs US truck output, ÔÇ£never met expectationsÔÇØ after its purchase in 1998 says Heinz Gottswick, a spokesman for the company.

After a weekend of meetings in Washington and Paris, finance ministers from leading industrialized nations have pledged to work together to tackle the financial crisis.   ┬á The G7 nations (the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada) issued a five-point plan of "decisive action" to unfreeze credit markets, after their first meeting in Washington Saturday. ┬á┬á The plan is intended to protect major banks and financial institutions from failure and ensure they can raise capital from public and private sources.

General Electric said Friday that its profit declined for the third straight quarter due to lower earnings at its financing arm, GE Capital, during the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.  GE, a 106-year-old economic leader whose products range from lightbulbs to power-plant turbines, generated higher profit from a strong demand for its electricity-generating turbines and jet engines, and its energy, technology, and NBC Universal businesses.

Symantec Corp.

 Symantec Corp.