London -- The Internet site eBay has canceled a British man's auction for his soul.

Dante Knoxx, 24, had offer the "used" item for a starting bid of $37,600 or a "Buy it now" price of just more than $1 million, The Daily Mail reported Monday.

The site canceled the listing Monday with two hours to go before the auction's end, said Knoxx, adding he had "a lot of interest but no actual bidders which is a real shame."

The listing apparently violated an eBay policy against "selling anything that is not physical," said Knoxx, a musician from Bournemouth, Dorset, who said he was fed up with his life and lacked creative jobs.

The eBay listing included a legal contract entitling the new soul's owner to a percentage of Knoxx's income for the rest of his life with a guaranteed minimum of $1,500 per year.

Madrid -- International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said governments should step up their efforts to rein in a spreading financial crisis.

"We are facing an unprecedented decline in output ... and we anticipate that the negative growth effects will last for some time," Strauss-Kahn said in Madrid in a speech commemorating Spain's 50th year as an IMF member.

Strauss-Kahn called for coordinated action between governments to keep financial firms from going under, measures to stimulate consumer demand and liquidity support for emerging markets, IMF.org said in a statement.

The world's major economies are expected to contract by 0.25 percent on an annual basis in 2009 -- the first decline since World War II, the IMF said.

Strauss-Kahn said governments that lack clear objectives risk an inability to measure the effectiveness of their economic interventions, leading to "bailout fatigue, which is a major political risk at the moment."

New York -- U.S. markets closed lower Monday in a muted trading day that coincided with the first day of a Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting.

Many economists predict the two-day meeting will conclude with an announcement of a federal fund rate cut, which frees up money for banks and business. Stocks, typically, enter a holding pattern while the meeting takes place.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 65.15 points or 0.75 percent to 8,564.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 11.16 or 1.27 percent to 868.57.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 32.38 or 2.1 percent to 1,508.34.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 818 stocks advanced and 2,309 declined on a volume of 6.3 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 19/32 to yield 2.508 percent.

Washington -- The U.S. Postal Service said Monday marked what is historically the busiest mailing day of the year.

The service said on its Web site that Dec. 15 has usually brought the highest mail load of the year, even though the last minute for mailing domestic First-Class and Priority Mail in time for the Christmas is Dec. 20, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Monday.

The USPS cautioned that those seeking to send Christmas greetings to arrive on the last mail service day before Christmas -- Dec. 24 -- will need to have theier items posted by Dec. 18.

The Postal Service did offer some hope for last minute gifters, however -- express mail will be available until Dec. 23.

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New York -- Crude oil prices eased down on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, despite the likelihood a production cut will be announced soon.

The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Chakib Khelil, has suggested lower production levels are on the way. OPEC members meet Dec. 17 in Algeria.

However, investors have been "building up big expectations," Nauman Barakat, senior vice president at Macquarie Futures, told The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, investors figured they may have over-estimated the size of the cut, Barakat said.

"This is very different to what they've done in the past when they kept expectations low," he said.

Crude oil prices slid $1.61 to $44.80 per barrel. Heating oil prices fell 0.0236 cents to $1.4698 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.0327 cents to $1.045 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.166 cents to $5.654 per million British thermal units.

Chicago -- Grains closed mostly higher on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday as the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

Corn was up 1 3/4 to up 2, soybeans were off 5 to off 8, wheat was up 6 1/4 to up 7 and oats were up 2 1/2.

Corn closed higher as the dollar slid and crude oil prices rose in New York. Wheat was up with Iraq initiating a tender for 50,000 metric tons in addition to those issued by Pakistan, Morocco, Jordan and Taiwan. Soybeans prices fell with exports ahead of U.S. Department of Agriculture expectations.

The prices:

Corn: Mar 3.75 1/4, up 1 3/2; May 3.86 1/2, up 1 3/4; Jul 3.97 1/4, up 2; Sep 4.07 3/4, up 2.

Soybeans: Jan 8.46, off 8; Mar 8.49 1/2, off 6 3/4; May 8.60, off 5 3/4; Jul 8.69 3/4, off 5.

Auburn Hills, Mich. -- Chrysler LLC plans to move seriously and quickly into the electric car market, the company's vice president for advanced vehicle engineering said.

"We aren't a one-electric-vehicle company," said executive Lou Rhodes, CNNMoney reported Monday.

Chrysler's strategy includes giving customers a choice between electric hybrid or all-gasoline engines in a variety of models, Rhodes said.

The plan calls for electric hybrid systems in vans, off-road vehicles and family-oriented sedans, CNNMoney said.

The advantages include lower costs and greater choices for customers, he said. It will also give the company greater flexibility. Since the models will be almost identical, if gasoline costs decline, the company will be able to put more gasoline-powered vehicles in showrooms. If gasoline prices rise, more electric hybrid cars will be shipped, he said.

Atlanta -- Delta Airlines said it would introduce its onboard wireless Internet services, temporarily, on domestic shuttles between Washington, New York and Boston.

The service, which allows Internet access through properly outfitted laptops and other mobile devices, will start Tuesday and will be free until the end of the year, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Starting in January 2010, the service will cost $9.95 on flights under three hours long and $12.95 on longer flights.

The East coast Delta shuttle flights will be taken over at the end of March by Shuttle America, which flies planes not outfitted with WiFi service.
But, it is still the first step toward supplying WiFi service on Delta's domestic fleet.

"It is what people are clamoring for," said aviation consultant Mike Miller.

Washington -- The Federal National Mortgage Association says renters living in U.S. properties on which it has foreclosed will not have to move -- at least right away.

The policy shift, announced Sunday, affects about 4,000 renters living in Fannie Mae properties under foreclosure, The Washington Post reported Monday.

In November, Fannie Mae -- along with the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp, known as Freddie Mac -- said it would suspend both evictions and foreclosures through the holiday season. They also said they would introduce a program to modify mortgages of homeowners facing foreclosures, the Post said.

Fannie Mae said the moratorium on foreclosures would last until Jan. 9. Fannie Mae also said it would create a program to help tenants in foreclosed properties to either move or sign new leases.

Oran, Algeria -- The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil cartel said its members were unanimous in agreement to cut production.

Two days before OPEC members were scheduled to meet in Oran, Algeria, President Chekib Khalil said Monday that world oil supply had overwhelmed demand and the market is saturated, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.

He said oil prices, currently at about $48 per barrel, would have fallen to $10 per barrel had the cartel not cut production in October.

Khalil also said demand would fall by 200,000 barrels per day for the first eight months of 2009.

An economic recovery by the end of the year would help stabilize the market, however, he said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press Intern