To stabilize US economy and the financial system, the Federal Reserve has announced to offer another $800bn stimulus.

According to the US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the package has been announced for the availability of more lending to consumers.

The new package will be used to buy mortgage-backed securities and thaw out the freezing consumer credit market.

US President-elect Barack Obama says: “Budget reform is essential because of the current economic crisis. And it’s not an option, but a necessity.”

Meanwhile Mr. Paulson said, “It would take some time to get out of these difficulties in US market and economy and we will have to face new challenges.”

“We are determined to handle these situations efficiently and use all the available tools to strengthen our financial institutions and stabilize financial markets.”

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Because of new concerns that the global economy faces an extended downturn, worldwide shares have fallen sharply.

In the US, Dow Jones index closed Tuesday 177 points or 2% down to 8,694 and it was mainly due to poor results overnight from Starbucks.

Continuing fears over General Motors future also hit US investors confidence. Similarly, European and Asian shares also fell.

Oil prices, declining to 20-month lows, also kept falling.

On Tuesday trading, US light crude ended down $3.08 to $59.33 a barrel and it was the lowest price since March 2007. The demand of oil continued to fall due to slowing economy.

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High value of the yen and intense decline in the US car market became the cause of 41% fall in Nissan half-year profits.

Nissan made a net profit of 126bn yen between April and September, while it was 212bn yen a year earlier.

There was an overall 4.7% rise in sales, but in the US it fell 3.4%.

Nissan, looking ahead, has also warned that its profits for the financial year by the end of March can drop more than two thirds.

The company is expecting a net annual profit of 160bn yen, while it was 484bn yen a year back that is well short of the company’s 340bn yen previous forecast.

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