WASHINGTON - THE Securities and Exchange Commission is carefully weighing options for reining in rushes of short-selling that can sink stock prices and will work seriously on a plan to give shareholders access to annual corporate ballots for directors, the agency's chief said Monday.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro and the other four SEC commissioners are scheduled to vote on Wednesday on new short-selling rules - a change being pushed by investors and lawmakers - and are expected to put forward several separate proposals for public comment.

WASHINGTON - THE Federal Reserve will supply new lines of credit worth up to US$287 billion (S$432.5 billion) to the central banks of Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and European Union.

NEW YORK - US AUTOMAKER Ford said on Monday it had completed a debt restructuring, slashing US$9.9 billion (S$14.9 billion) from a debt pile of 25.8 billion dollars at the end of 2008.