US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has extended the government’s $700 billion (€475 billion) financial bailout fund to October 2010, saying it was still needed for “significant challenges” in the economy.

Mr Geithner pledged to deploy no more than $550 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, allowing the remainder to reduce budget deficits. The extension, opposed by many Republicans, will allow the Obama administration to tap the financial rescue programme to fight home foreclosures and to ease credit for small businesses in the hopes of spurring job growth. – (Reuters)