Bear Stearns Closes in on Deal To Sell Itself to J.P. Morgan  —  Bear Stearns Cos. was closing in on a deal Sunday afternoon to sell itself to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., as worries deepened that the financial crisis of confidence could spread if Bear failed to find a buyer by Monday morning.

Sunday Financial Meltdown Blogging  —  Every now and again, and then increasingly as things start looking worse, I get a comment like “how can you write about [thing that's not earth-shatteringly important] when the economy is [something terrible happening in the economy].”

The B Word  —  O.K., here it comes: The unthinkable is about to become the inevitable.  —  Last week, Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, and John Lipsky, a top official at the International Monetary Fund, both suggested that public funds might be needed to rescue the U.S. financial system.

U.S. Fed Cuts Discount Rate, Says Dealers May Borrow  —  The Federal Reserve, in an emergency weekend decision, cut the rate on direct loans to commercial banks and opened up borrowing at the rate to primary dealers in government securities.  —  In an announcement before the start of trading …

Oprah, Obama, And Wright  —  It has been reported that Oprah Winfrey, who endorsed Obama, is the other famous member of Wright's now controversial church.  However, she seems to have moved away from that church quite some time ago - this is from 2002: … I wonder what Oprah would say about the direction Wright's ministry took.