Detroit -- Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm used pugilistic imagery Friday, reacting to Senate Republicans who failed to support a $14 billion bailout for U.S. automakers.

"Republican senators have just delivered a fierce slap at three million workers across America," Granholm said in a statement.

"Their no vote is an astounding blow," she said. "They have chosen to ignore the livelihood of three million Americans, three million families, and in the process have chosen to drive the American manufacturing industry -- and perhaps the American economy -- into the ground.

"A nation without a strong manufacturing sector is a nation without a viable defense sector," she said, alluding, perhaps, to automakers who turned out tanks during World War II.

"This is a shameful day, a day we will not forget," she said.

New York -- Crude oil prices fell Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as investors juggled bailout news from Washington and the expectation of productions cuts.

A major winter storm pushed across much of the United States Friday but investors appeared more concerned with a possible failure of General Motors Corp. or Chrysler LLC.

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meet Dec. 17 in Algeria. Traders expect the cartel to agree to production quota cuts.

Crude oil prices fell 74 cents to $46.41 per barrel. Heating oil prices rose slightly, up 0.0006 cents to $1.4934 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline rose 0.0152 cents to $1.0777 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.08 cents to $5.488 per million British thermal units.

Chicago -- Grains closed mixed on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday as the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

Corn was up 21 1/2 to up 22 1/2, soybeans were off 2 1/2 to off 4 1/2, wheat was up 5 1/4 to up 15 1/2 and oats were up 2 1/2 to 4.

Corn gained sharply on wheat Friday as dry conditions were again a concern in northern Argentina. Wheat closed higher with traders expecting tenders from Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Syria next week. Soybeans closed lower in spite of China purchasing 120,000 metric tons Friday.

The prices:

Corn: Dec 3.59 1/2, up 21 1/2; Mar 3.73 1/2, up 22; May 3.84 3/4, up 22 1/4; Jul 3.95 1/4, up 22 1/2.

Soybeans: Jan 8.54, off 2 1/2; Mar 8.56 1/4, off 4 1/4; May 8.65 3/4, off 4 1/4; Jul 8.74 3/4, off 4 1/2.

Washington -- U.S. stock indexes pulled ahead Friday after President George Bush indicated he would seek an alternative way to bailout U.S. automakers.

After the Senate rejected a $14 billion bailout package, General Motors Corp. shares quickly dropped 17 percent, but ended the day down 0.76 percent. Ford Motor Co., said to be in stronger financial shape, posted a 5.17 percent gain Friday. Chrysler, not publicly traded, says its situation is also dire.

By close, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 64.59 points, or 0.75 percent, to 8,629.68. The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.7 percent, 6.14 points, to 879.73. The Nasdaq composite index gained 32.84 points, 2.18 percent, to 1,540.72.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,887 stocks advanced and 1,199 declined on volume of 6.4 billion shares traded.

Washington -- A U.S. Food and Drug Administration draft report says most people should eat more fish, a published report said Friday.

The draft report, obtained by The Washington Post, calls for the government to reverse current U.S. policy that women of childbearing years, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children and certain groups of people can be harmed by mercury. The report argues omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and other minerals can boost a child's IQ by three points.

The newspaper said the Environmental Protection Agency is not happy with the draft report, which was delivered to the White House. The Environmental Working Group is calling on EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson to fight the FDA's recommendations.

Detroit -- General Motors Corp. said it would cut production at most U.S. assembly plants by 30 percent for the first quarter of 2009.

The company said 20 plants would be affected in the United States, Canada and Mexico as it scaled down production by 250,000 vehicles in the quarter, The Detroit News reported.

GM workers in Kansas City, Mo., and Spring Hill, Tenn., said they were told their plants would close from the holidays through Feb. 9, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday.

The company also told 300 workers in Mansfield, Ohio, they would be laid off in a week. Work there would close for two weeks in January, the newspaper said.

GM has said it would run out of operating cash early next year and lobbied hard for a federal bailout package, which evaporated in the U.S. Senate Thursday.

Moscow -- Russia has moved to set aside $325 billion to help the country's banking industry, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

"To date, about $140 billion has been made available," Putin said in Moscow at the economic organization EurAsEC. "In all, up to $325 billion has been reserved for these purposes," he said.

Speaking about the economy, Putin said inflation "reached 12.5 percent in the first 11 months, and is expected to hit 13.5 percent by the end of the year," Novosti reported Friday.

He expected the country's gross domestic product would end 2008 at 6 percent, while personal incomes would be up 7 percent.

Unemployment, however, has risen 8 percent from a year ago, Putin said. The official count of unemployed workers in Russia reached 4.6 million in October, he said.

Washington -- Returns on U.S. Treasury bonds have skyrocketed this year, as investors have flocked to the market backed by the U.S. government.

Merrill Lynch & Co. chief North American economist David Rosenburg said the market for government bonds had reached a "bubble" with prices unrealistically high due to overwhelming demand.

Returns on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds hit 27 percent this year, while 10-year and two-year Treasury bonds have hit 12.6 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, The Dallas Morning News reported Friday.

While demand has soared, yields have collapsed. A recent Treasury auction found demand for short-term bonds with zero yields.

Investors "want to ride out the storm in Treasuries," said Howard Simons, a bond strategist at Bianco Research.

London -- HBOS shareholders agreed to allow Lloyds TSB to purchase the British bank Friday and voted approval for the bank to accept $17.1 billion in government help.

Members of Unite, a trade union, protested the shareholder vote, forming a picket line outside the shareholder meeting in Birmingham, England, The Daily Mail reported. The union fears thousands of jobs will be lost with the acquisition.

The bailout approval means the government will own 43.5 percent of the merged banks, which will be known as Lloyds Banking Group.

HBOS said it had written down $8.6 billion in bad debts from January through November, including $4.1 billion since September.

The news that banks were still writing down billions of dollars of bad debt reverberated through other financial firms. Royal Bank of Scotland shares dropped 17 percent, while Barclays shares dropped 13 percent, The Daily Mail reported.

San Francisco, December 12:: The Bank Of America has planned to lay off 30,000 to 35,000 positions over the next three years, as the bank is taking over Merrill Lynch & Co. Bank of America has already laid-off 11, 150 employees, while Merrill has slashed 5,720 employees so far, in the wake of financial crises in the economy.