President Barack Obama is briefed on the economy by National Economic Director Lawrence Summers and members of his economic council Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House - - White House Photo/Pete Souza

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) may be given responsibility for a so- called bad bank, which the Obama administration may establish to move toxic assets from banks, according to reports.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair is reported to be pushing to run the operation, which would have the the toxic assets transferred from banks’ balance sheets.

News of the bank plan boosted the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is up 132 points at 8,306. The S&P 500 rose 2.53% while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.49%. 

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced today it plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about 6% of its workforce, after a strike, program delays and the global recession contributed to a fourth- quarter loss.

The job reductions, announced on a conference call today, include 4,500 that were previously announced in the commercial- plane half of Boeing's business. Earlier the company reported a net loss of $56 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with profit of $1.03 billion, or $1.36, a year earlier.

Boeing faces the prospect of canceled or deferred orders this year as well as additional development costs on the delayed 787 Dreamliner, which is due to commence deliveries in early 2010, about two years later than planned.

Boeing delivered 50 aircraft in the quarter, 70 fewer than planned, hitting revenue by $4.3 billion.

Boeing's share price rose 0.14%.

The Federal Reserve's policy making Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is due to wrap up a two-day meeting today. The federal-funds rate is currently at a rate of 0.25% to zero.

Live US Indices

European stocks rose for a third day Wednesday and the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 jumped 3.2%.

Barclays Bank jumped 19% and Deutsche Bank climbed 22%.

National benchmarks rose in 17 of the 18 western European markets, except Iceland. France’s CAC 40 jumped 3.8%; the U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 2.6% and Germany’s DAX rose 4.3%.

The ISEQ Index rose 4.75%.

AIB jumped 39%; BoI 27% and IL&P 16%.