Historic Bailout Passes As Economy Slips Further

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush signed into law an unprecedented $700 billion plan to rescue the U.S. financial system, one of the largest-ever government interventions in the nation's economy -- and almost certainly not the last.

The Treasury Department is expected to move quickly to start buying distressed assets from struggling financial institutions, although any impact might not be felt for some weeks. Many details -- such as who will administer the program and how -- are still to be worked out.
That lingering uncertainty cast a pall over stock and bond markets. Credit markets remained stressed as lenders continued to worry about getting repaid. The three-month Libor rate, a measure of the rate that banks charge to lend to one another, rose to 4.33% Friday from 4.21% the day before.

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