The two sides tentatively agreed Wednesday to a groundbreaking agreement that allows GM to move its unfunded retiree health care costs into an independent trust administered by the UAW. The union also agreed to lower wages for some workers. In exchange, the UAW won commitments from GM to invest in U.S. plants, bonuses and an agreement to hire thousands of temporary workers which will boost UAW membership, according to a person who was briefed on the contract. The person requested anonymity because the details haven't been publicly released.

Wall Street applauded news of the deal, sending GM shares up more than 9 percent.

The union said the agreement with the nation's largest automaker was reached shortly after 3 a.m. The UAW canceled its two-day strike about an hour later and workers were back in GM's 80 U.S. facilities Wednesday afternoon.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose soundly Wednesday following word that some of the problems dogging big companies like General Motors Corp. and Bear Stearns Cos. could be on the mend.

GM, one of the 30 stocks that makes up the Dow Jones industrial average, led the market higher from the outset Wednesday with word it had struck a tentative contract agreement with the United Auto Workers that could allow the company to shed some of its burdensome health care costs.

While stocks held onto gains throughout the session, rumors that Bear Stearns Cos. would sell a stake in the company took on new urgency in the final hour of the session with a report that billionaire investor Warren Buffett was a potential suitor.

Wall Street shrugged off broader economic news from the Commerce Department, which said demand for durable goods fell in August by the largest amount in seven months. The findings could indicate that recent upheaval in the credit and stock markets as well as the housing sector dented the economy.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Demand for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged in August by the largest amount in seven months, with widespread weakness signaling a slowdown in the nation's industrial sector.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for durable goods, everything from commercial jetliners to home appliances, fell by 4.9 percent in August, the biggest decline since a 6.1 percent fall in January.

It was far larger than the 3.5 percent drop that economists had been expecting and resulted from across-the-board decreases in a number of categories. The concern is that the steep downturn in housing and turbulence in financial markets could start to affect the economy more broadly, raising the risks of a full-blown recession.

Of particular concern, orders in the category considered a proxy for business investment plans edged down by 0.7 percent in August, the second decline in the past three months. Business equipment spending has been one of the bright spots for the economy this year.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The planned $25 billion buyout of student lender Sallie Mae was thrown into jeopardy Wednesday after the investors said the terms of the deal were no longer acceptable.

Sallie Mae, officially SLM Corp., vowed to pursue legal remedies against the investor group.

The investors, led by private-equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co., told Sallie Mae they do not plan to complete the $60-a-share deal negotiated earlier this year, though they are open to discussing new terms.

The investor group has insisted in recent months that new student loan legislation, expected to be signed Thursday by President Bush, could kill the deal. The measure will cut about $20 billion in government subsidies to companies like Sallie Mae that make student loans while halving the interest rate on government-backed student loans.

The company's stock fell nearly 3 percent Wednesday to just above $45 a share.

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Nasdaq and Borse Dubai said Wednesday they raised their bid for Sweden's OMX exchange by 15 percent to $4.9 billion and entered agreements with key shareholders to secure nearly half of OMX shares.

They also lowered the minimum acceptance level for the offer to 50 percent from 90 percent, making it harder for Qatar Investment Authority, a major shareholder, to block the takeover.

The sweetened offer, just a week after the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. and Borse Dubai settled their own bidding contest for OMX, came in response to moves by the Qatar group to gain a foothold in the Stockholm-based company.

Borse Dubai Chief Executive Per E. Larsson — a former CEO at OMX — said Nasdaq and Borse Dubai had received "massive support" for the higher bid from several key shareholders that own 18.5 percent of OMX, including Swedish investment firm Investor AB and Nordea Bank AB.

Nasdaq and Borse Dubai struck a deal last week that would ultimately give Nasdaq control of OMX, while Borse Dubai would get a 20 percent stake in Nasdaq and a 28 percent holding in the London Stock Exchange.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Enriched by high oil prices, Chevron Corp. will spend up to $15 billion buying back its own stock — a commitment that pleased shareholders and rankled critics clamoring for bigger investments in projects that might help lower energy costs.

The three-year repurchase program announced Wednesday served as yet another reminder of the cash cascading into the oil industry while motorists have been trying to cope with higher gasoline bills.

The dichotomy has triggered Congressional threats to repeal some of the industry's tax breaks or impose a special tax on profits above a certain threshold.

Chevron Chairman David O'Reilly defended the stock repurchases as the "appropriate" thing to do with the second largest U.S. oil company on pace for its fourth consecutive year of record profits.

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TORONTO (AP) — North American auto manufacturers have been slapped with a $2 billion class-action lawsuit by four Toronto residents who claim the auto industry conspired to inflate the price of automobiles in Canada and also inhibited cross-border vehicle shopping on the strong Canadian dollar.

The suit, filed Wednesday by Toronto-based law firm Juroviesky and Ricci, covers consumers who bought cars between August 2005 and August 2007.

They say they paid more money to buy cars in Canada than similar or identical models cost in the United States.

Included in the allegations are claims that the automakers agreed not to honor warranties for vehicles purchased in the U.S., forcing Canadian consumers who wanted a manufacturer's warranty to pay 25 percent to 35 percent more on average for a vehicle in Canada.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Executives from major credit rating agencies on Wednesday were accused by senators of being hampered by conflicts of interest that may have contributed to the mortgage market turmoil rattling investors worldwide.

The biggest rating agencies —Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings — are under fire from critics who say they failed to give investors adequate warning of the risks associated with mortgage-backed securities. Those investments are now plummeting in value as home-loan defaults soar, particularly among borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit histories.

Several members of the Senate Banking Committee questioned rating agency executives about whether they provided advice to investment banks that issue complex mortgage securities tied to subprime home loans.

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By The Associated Press

The GM and Bear Stearns news lifted investor sentiment, sending the Dow up 99.50, or 0.72 percent, to 13,878.15.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 8.21, or 0.54 percent, to 1,525.42, and the Nasdaq composite index increased 15.58, or 0.58 percent, to 2,699.03.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.12, or 0.76 percent, to 809.12.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose 77 cents to settle at $80.30 a barrel on the Nymex.

October gasoline fell 1.05 cents to settle at $2.0274 a gallon on the Nymex, bouncing back from earlier losses of more than 4 cents. October heating oil futures rose 0.13 cent to settle at $2.1826 a gallon, reversing an earlier loss of more than 3 cents.

October natural gas futures, which expired after the close of Wednesday's session, rose 6.3 cents to settle at $6.423 per 1,000 cubic feet.