AP - The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday a radical plan to buy massive amounts of short-term debt in a dramatic effort to break through a credit clog that is imperiling the economy.

AP - Stocks fluctuated in quiet trading Tuesday as investors appeared to adopt a wait-and-see approach to the range of options the Federal Reserve has laid out to inject the sluggish credit markets with a dose of much-needed confidence. Trading remained fractious, and the major indexes alternated between gains and losses a day after the market suffered another huge drop.

Reuters - The Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced it would create a special-purpose facility, with the Treasury Department's blessing, to begin buying commercial paper in yet another emergency move aimed at calming chaotic financial markets.

Reuters - Countries scrambled to slow the growing global financial crisis on Tuesday and Wall Street braced for the day after a massive sell-off, nervous about corporate earnings and hoping Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke might offer a ray of hope.