Oct. 10--Here's some news you may have missed last week, based on staff and wire reports.

Monday

Say it ain't so, Joe, here we go again: A week after its biggest drop since Black Monday in 1987, the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted again, falling 3.6 percent to close below 10,000 for the first time in four years. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index (closely followed in tech-heavy Silicon Valley) dropped 4.3 percent. The U.S. decline followed steep drops in markets in Asia and Europe after it became clear that the financial crisis has become a global problem.

As the economic mess deepens, companies are cutting back, even in Silicon Valley. San Jose online-commerce powerhouse eBay said it would dismiss about 10 percent of its workforce, eliminating about 1,000 permanent and 600 temporary or unfilled jobs. EBay also said it would pay nearly $1 billion for Bill Me Later. The Maryland company's service lets online retailers offer creditworthy customers the option of paying for merchandise, well, later.

Tuesday

Speaking of eBay, Sen. John McCain suggested Meg Whitman, the company's former chief executive (and a McCain supporter), would be a great choice for Treasury secretary. At a town-hall-style debate in Tennessee, the Republican presidential candidate and his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, also suggested billionaire investor Warren Buffett (an

Obama supporter) for the job.

Back in Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale chip maker Advanced Micro Devices -- which competes fiercely with Santa Clara arch-rival Intel in the market for computer microprocessors -- revealed a dramatic restructuring: AMD said it would spin off its chip-fabrication plants (or fabs) into a separate business. The deal to create the Foundry Co. includes a cash infusion worth nearly $8 billion from two Abu Dhabi investment firms. The Foundry Co. will make chips for AMD and, eventually, for other chip developers. "This is the biggest announcement in our history," AMD Chief Executive Dirk Meyer said. Investors agreed: On an otherwise dismal day, AMD shares soared 8.5 percent.

How dismal was it? The Dow lost 5.1 percent and the Nasdaq plunged 5.8 percent.

Wednesday

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to the rescue? In a move coordinated with central banks around the world, the Fed cut its key short-term interest rate by a half-point to 1.5 percent. Investors were less than impressed: The Dow fell 2.0 percent, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.8 percent.

Yahoo shares declined 5.6 percent after recovering slightly from a five-year low.