Reuters – U.S. President Barack Obama‘s $825 billion stimulus plan cleared its first Congressional hurdle as the Federal Reserve eyed more extreme measures to ease credit market strains, boosting Asian stocks despite deep skepticism that a global slowdown can be reversed quickly.

Signs of corporate distress were still obvious regardless of the passage of Obama’s bill through the House of Representatives, the first big legislative success of his new presidency.

Sony Corp followed fellow Japanese electronics maker Canon Inc with a dismal quarterly profit report on Thursday as the fallout grows from a global crisis which has already cost trillions of dollars and threatens millions of jobs.

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