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AP Business NewsBrief at 7:36 p.m. EDT(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Bailout heads for Senate win; House foes softenWASHINGTON (AP) _ After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, speeding toward passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House where conservative opposition seemed to soften. Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners for the right and left, hoping to secure approval in the House by Friday, just days after lawmakers there stunningly rejected an earlier version and sent markets plunging around the globe. Stocks end relatively calm day with modest lossNEW YORK (AP) _ The financial markets saw some relative calm Wednesday as investors uneasily awaited a Senate vote on the banking bailout plan, with Wall Street falling only moderately and the credit markets still showing signs of strain. The Dow Jones industrials zigzagged during the session, losing more than 200 points in early trading but closing down about 20 _ far from the huge swings the blue chips saw during the first two sessions of the week. Many investors were reluctant to make any major moves before the vote expected Wednesday night on a revised version of the plan defeated earlier this week by the House. The new proposal includes tax breaks for businesses and the middle class and increases deposit insurance. Tight credit, fear send Sept. auto sales below 1MDETROIT (AP) _ U.S. auto sales dropped below 1 million last month for the first time in more than 15 years as some consumers struggled to get financing and others were frightened away from showrooms by bank failures and turmoil on Wall Street. Americans bought 964,873 vehicles in September, the lowest sales figure since February 1993, according to Autodata Corp. and the Edmunds.com automotive Web site. Sales fell 27 percent compared with September 2007, with every major brand but General Motors Corp. reporting drops of at least 24 percent. Lending remains tight as clock ticks on bailoutNEW YORK _ The credit markets remained choked Wednesday, keeping key lending rates and demand for Treasurys at lofty levels as investors awaited Congress' decision on the U.S. financial rescue plan. Because of the recent drought in credit market activity, more large companies have been having trouble getting loans at rates they can tolerate _ and as a result, they're altering their business plans. Buffett's company to buy $3B of GE preferred stockOMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is investing $3 billion in General Electric Co., a huge vote of confidence for an iconic American company battered by the financial crisis. For the second time in just over a week, Berkshire Hathaway has moved to shore up a company long known for its ironclad fiscal health. Buffett's company invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs last week after the famed investment bank's shares had slumped. Investors feared Goldman could face similar funding squeezes as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. Manufacturing shrinks to lowest level since 2001NEW YORK (AP) _ A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity contracted more than expected last month, hitting the lowest level since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, as new orders slowed dramatically. The Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday released a September reading of 43.5, the lowest level since October 2001. The reading dropped from 49.9 in August, the largest one-month decline since January, 1984, when it fell to 60.5 from 69.9. Report: ImClone's secret suitor is Eli LillyINDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. reportedly is the secret suitor that's been courting ImClone Systems Inc. and is offering approximately $6.1 billion for the biotech company. Indianapolis-based Lilly is in advanced talks about the deal, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The newspaper said Lilly is the unnamed large pharmaceutical company that ImClone's chairman, Carl Icahn, has said offered three weeks ago to acquire the company for about $70 a share, pending a review of its books. Candy with chemical in Chinese milk found in Conn.HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ An industrial chemical blamed for sickening thousands of infants in China was found in candy in four Connecticut stores this week, a state official said Wednesday. Days after contaminated White Rabbit Creamy Candy was found in California, Connecticut Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. said tests found melamine in bags of the candy sold at two New Haven stores, a West Hartford market and an East Haven store. Oil down on stronger US crude, gasoline suppliesNEW YORK (AP) _ Oil prices dipped below $100 a barrel Wednesday as ample increases in U.S. crude and gasoline supplies added to mounting evidence that a rough economy is forcing Americans to drive less. Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $2.11 to settle at $98.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded erratically, however, rising as high as $102.84 overnight and falling to as low as $95.95. Banks want to suspend accounting rule in bailoutWASHINGTON (AP) _ Congress has embraced an idea to help prop up the financial system: Give banks a break by letting them value their bad mortgage assets at a price they could fetch later, not now. Lawmakers want the Securities and Exchange Commission to implement the idea as part of the $700 billion financial bailout package. But critics fear that might only postpone the reckoning for banks _ and taxpayers. Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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