The US economy shrank at a faster rate than previously thought in the third quarter and home prices fell at a record pace in the year to September

US officials opened a new front to fight the financial crisis with two new programmes aimed at boosting lending to consumers and small businesses and supporting the market for mortgage-backed securities

The US and eurozone are poised to suffer four consecutive quarters of contracting output that will not end until the middle of 2009, according to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development's latest forecast

Barack Obama said Tim Geithner, his choice of Treasury secretary, would reach out to countries around the world to craft a "global response" to the financial crisis and hailed his nominee's "unparalleled understanding" of the economic challenges awaiting the new administration.

Tim Geithner is not somebody, in other words, who spends hours theorising about what could or should have been done according to any policy textbook; his focus is always on results, and to get them he will collect ideas, advice and opinions from wherever he can, writes Gillian Tett