NEW YORK (Reuters) - Countrywide Financial Corp on Tuesday denied market speculation it might seek bankruptcy protection, after shares of the largest U.S. mortgage lender slid to their lowest level in nearly eight years.

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Tuesday it saw softness in its consumer business, spooking investors who thought telecoms would be sheltered from the U.S. economic slowdown and helping drive the Standard & Poor's 500 stocks index to its worst five-day start to a year ever.

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three regional Federal Reserve banks wanted a deeper half-percentage-point cut in the discount rate ahead of December's Fed policy meeting, minutes of the Fed Board's discount rate meetings showed on Tuesday.

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled on Tuesday after a warning by phone company AT&T of soft consumer spending sparked a new round of recession fears, helping drive the S&P to its worst-ever five-day start to a year.

  BOSTON (Reuters) - Online brokerage E*Trade Financial said on Tuesday that it will exit the U.S. institutional sales business as it tries to streamline operations, but analysts still question its financial health.

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - McGraw-Hill Cos , which publishes educational books and magazines and owns the Standard & Poor's credit rating agency, on Tuesday said it is eliminating 611 jobs, or 3 percent of its workforce, to reduce costs and boost shareholder returns.

  PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Bear Stearns Cos Inc's management shake-up could make the investment bank a takeover target, but the possibility of more write-downs and chance of legal entanglements from the subprime mortgage crisis could sideline suitors for now, analysts said on Tuesday.

  SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) - An emerging long-range, high-speed wireless technology is expected to spread quickly and be available globally within two years, a key backer of the so-called WiMax technology said on Tuesday.

  CHICAGO (Reuters) - KB Home posted a quarterly loss of nearly $773 million on Tuesday, including charges for shrinking land values and abandoned projects, as the U.S. housing market braced for another rough year in 2008.

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson conceded on Tuesday the economy was being buffeted by "headwinds" but said the Bush administration has not yet decided whether it needs new stimulus measures.