Paris - Inspired by a strong surge on Wall Street overnight and driven by bargain hunters looking for undervalued stocks, stocks on the Paris Bourse soared on Wednesday.
The CAC 40 blue-chip index finished the session up by a healthy 9.23 per cent, closing at 3,402.57 points. Thirty-nine of its 40 listed stocks gained ground.
Building materials producer Saint Gobain was the day's biggest winner, rising by 18.57 per cent, to 28.63 euros, despite substantial drops in building permits and housing construction starts in the third quarter.
Republican John McCain has lately been picking on Congressman Barney Frank warn voters about the fiscal dangers that would accompany Barack Obama’s presidency. It appears Frank has found a comfortable home in McCain’s speeches in the campaign’s closing days.
As it is customary for candidates to return to their home state to vote on Election Day, the Alaska Governor is also expected to do the same. The campaign, however, has not announced this officially yet, due to the amount of time it takes to fly to Alaska and the need for the GOP Vice-Presidential nominee to continue campaigning.
While political leaders often achieve national prominence by riding a wave of issues or ideology, the strength of Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin lies more in her image. Palin has unapologetically cast her image as one who shares the lot and the views of a large segment of the population. 
Washington - The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 1 per cent on Wednesday to the lowest level since June 2004 in an effort to keep the US economy out of a prolonged recession.
