President-elect Barack Obama is seeking as much as $310 billion in tax cuts as part of a massive stimulus plan to counter what senior policymakers warned could be a prolonged period of economic stagnation and deflation.

Republicans in the House of Representatives told President Barack Obama on Friday the best way to boost the economy would be to cut income taxes, rather than the Democratic plan which puts more focus on government spending.

Fannie Mae, the largest provider of money for U.S. residential mortgages, on Wednesday said its regulator named nine board members, including a former Morgan Stanley executive.

Gas prices fell for the tenth consecutive day Monday, according to motorist group AAA. Regular unleaded fell to an average of $1.619 a gallon, the lowest since gas hit $1.617 a gallon in January 2004.

Last week, New York University and Carnegie Mellon sent a new class of math whizzes out into a profession that is both blamed for the financial collapse and charged with preventing it happening again.

Business bulletin