Top financial officials from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations on Friday issued an upbeat evaluation of the global financial crisis, describing signs that markets were stabilizing around the world and warning that it was necessary to devise “exit strategies” to disengage from stimulus programs that have been put in place.

The G8 met for two days in Lecce, Italy. Eight world finance ministers – including U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, and his global counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia – also agreed to create “a set of common principles and standards governing the conduct of international business and finance,”The Washington Post reported.

In a communiqué called “the Lecce Framework” – which described the strategy for obtaining those goals – the finance ministers called on government leaders to fill in the regulatory gaps that led to the global financial crisis, including

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GM Cans Mid-Size Trucks; Treasury Yields Soar to 7-month High; Airlines Grounded by $9 Billion Loss; Copper Sinks as Dollar Rises; Supreme Court Delays Chrysler Sale; McDonald’s misses estimates; Apple debuts new iPhone

After repeated attempts to sell its medium-duty truck operations,General Motors Corp. (OTC: GMGQ), yesterday (Monday) said that it would halt their production by July 31. Reuters reported. “After four years of working with multiple potential buyers, General Motors has decided to wind down its medium-duty truck operations,” the automaker said in a statement.  GM plans to cease production of Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC Topkick. The automaker sold about 20,000 of the vehicles last year, down from roughly 30,000 in 2007, as the U.S. economy sank into a deep recession. Yields on two-year treasuries soared to the highest level since November, as investors expressed concern that record issuance of U.S. debt may overwhelm demand ...

Markets traded down for the majority of the trading period as investors are cautious on the sustainability of the recent market rally of nearly 40% since its March lows.  However, a late afternoon surge bolstered the indices upward to close marginally flat on the day; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.36, or 0.2%, to 8,764.49 as Cisco Systems and Travelers, Inc officially replaced Citigroup and General Motors.  Both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 were down 7.02 and 0.95, or 0.38% and 0.10%, to close at 1,842.40 and 939.14 respectively.   Commodities fell today as crude lost $0.35 to settle at $68.09 per barrel and gold decreased $10.10 to close at $952.50.  Prices on 10-year bonds fell marginally as well, pushing the yield up 0.0270 to 3.889%.   The biggest gaining sector today was Financials, finishing 1.1% higher as investors increased buying volume ahead of the Fed’s official announcement of which companies

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