Tuesday Papers: Dow plunges 680 points as US manufacturing slumps -- other news

* Dow plunges 680 points to 8,149, S&P 500 tumbles 80 points to 816 and Nasdaq slides 95 points to 1,091

* US manufacturing in November slumped to 1981-82 recession levels and construction spending fell in October

* Institute for Supply Management index of national factory activity dropped to 36.2 in November from 38.9 in October

* Commerce Department data showed US construction spending slipped 1.2% in October from an unchanged reading the previous month

* Companies face spiralling funding costs as spread in bond markets reach historic highs, sterling is battered and gilt yields touch historic lows

* US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke signals that US rates will be cut to below 1%

* JP Morgan sees US Fed cutting interest rates to zero next month

* National Bureau of Economic Research says US entered recession a year ago

* Pilgrim's Pride files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

* Unilever to cut 250 research jobs worldwide

* HSBC and Credit Suisse to cut 1,150 staff

* Halfords to cut 250 jobs

* Aston Martin slashes workforce by a third

* Carmakers report tumbling sales across Asia and Europe

* US urges Pakistan to assist in Mumbai terror probe

* Oil prices drop below $50 as Opec delays production cut

* Climate change pledges to hit energy bills

* Gordon Brown quashes EC president's euro UK membership claims

* The number of business failures is set to increase by almost 50% in the next 12 months, but will not reach to the record levels suffered during the past UK recession, according to BDO Stoy Hayward

* Barack Obama appoints Hilary Clinton as secretary of state, Robert Gates as defence secretary and James Jones as national security adviser

* Tory lead over labour cut to 1% according to ComRes survey for the Independent

* BT Group names new finance director as Tony Chanmugam,who masterminded £1 billion of cost-cutting initiatives

* Phorm's US board members quit in strategy row; Lord Lamont appointed to board