NEW YORK - US stocks tumbled on Friday as investors worried about earnings, the faltering financial sector and the government's ability to mount an adequate response to the recession.

NEW DELHI - A TOP Indian government panel cut its growth forecast for Asia's third-largest economy on Friday, blaming a battering from the global slowdown, and its chief said there was room for more cuts in interest rates.

In its review of the economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Economic Advisory Council said expansion would slow to 7.1 per cent for the current fiscal year to end March, from a previous estimate of 7.7 per cent.

FRANKFURT - GERMAN Volkswagen's premium unit Audi said on Friday it was to stop production at its two main plants for six days, cutting output in February by 12,000 vehicles.

About 25,000 blue-collar workers in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm will be given six work days off from Feb 20-27, when Catholic southern Germany celebrates the pre-Lent festival of Carnival.