Credit score of 700
required by GMAC

GMAC LLC, the consumer finance arm of General Motors Corp., will limit auto loans to customers with credit scores of at least 700, making it harder for some customers to buy a car or truck.

GMAC also raised by 0.75 percent the rate it charges auto dealers for making loans that aren't part of special incentive programs.
Morgan Stanley gets
$9 billion lifeline

Morgan Stanley averted disaster with a $9 billion lifeline from a major Japanese bank, and declared it will use that money to pick off smaller rivals.
AT&T plans to sell
services at retailers

AT&T Inc., fighting cable companies for customers, will sell its TV and Internet services at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Circuit City Stores Inc., and Best Buy Co., the first national retail agreements for the product.
Honda will move,
reduce production

Honda Motor Co., shuffling U.S. production to keep factories busy, will boost car output and build fewer minivans and sport utility vehicles as light-truck sales fall.

Honda will shift North American manufacturing of most V-6 Accord sedans to Lincoln, Ala., from Marysville, Ohio, in mid-2009 and pare the scheduled output of Odyssey minivans and Pilot sport utility vehicles in Lincoln by an additional 22,000 units in the year ending in March, spokesman Ed Miller said.
GM speeds closure
of Wisconsin plant

General Motors Corp., speeding up plant closings as demand for its trucks dwindles, will shutter a Wisconsin sport utility vehicle factory in December, two years earlier than planned.

GM's move is the second this month to blunt a 23 percent drop in purchases of the SUVs, vans and pickups that account for more than three of every five of its U.S. sales.

The Janesville, Wis., factory has 1,200 union workers and will be idled Dec. 23, spokesman Chris Lee said Monday. The plant, about 75 miles south of Milwaukee, makes the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL.

Dairy products meet
new Chinese limits

China's quality control agency said the latest tests found that Chinese dairy products met the new temporary limits on the substance melamine.

Melamine, often used in plastics manufacturing, was added to substandard or diluted milk to make the protein levels appear higher. China has conducted investigations into the industrial chemical following the tainted baby formula scandal that killed four infants and sickened more than 54,000.
Fed OKs takeover
of banker Wachovia

The Federal Reserve approved Wells Fargo & Co.'s $12.2 billion takeover of Wachovia Corp., clearing one of the last obstacles for creation of the largest U.S. bank branch network.
Regulators close
two small banks

Regulators shut down two small banks, Main Street Bank in Northville, Mich., and Meridian Bank in Eldred, Ill.

They brought to 15 the number of federally insured banks that have failed this year.