PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- After some disappointments among Nike's prospects, the company is looking to men's basketball for one of those big medal moments companies crave from the Olympics.

Basketball is the top sport in China and other developing markets where Nike hopes to win over consumers. With the U.S. men's team's advancement to the semifinals in Beijing after a 116-85 victory over Australia Wednesday, the time may be right for the swoosh.

Nike says its sees this year's games -- which drew the company's largest Olympics investment ever -- as a success. It created a new product for every sport and outfitted 22 of the 28 federations.

In U.s men's basketball, Nike outfits 11 of the 12 players, including NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, who has spent several summers in China building relationships and is mobbed wherever he goes. His is the top-selling jersey in China.

Bryant just had his best game of the Olympics, scoring 25 points against Australia. But Nike has seen better games for big wins.

Some of its top athletes, most notably Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, faced unexpected disappointments. And Nike lost the spotlight to competitors such as Speedo, which endorses Michael Phelps and created the famed LZR Racer suit, and Puma, which outfitted Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who swept the 100- and 200-meter sprints.

"We are about sticking by athletes through thick and thin, through injury and poor performances," said

NEW YORK (AP) -- With oil prices seesawing, the dollar bounced back against the euro and the pound Wednesday after a two-day drop.

The 15-nation euro slipped to $1.4741 in late New York trading from $1.4768 Tuesday, while the British pound fell to $1.8615 from $1.8660.

The U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday a big gain in imports drove crude inventories up by a hefty 9.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 15, a figure much higher than analysts expected.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose near $115 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, it climbed as high as $117.03 before the inventory data was released, then fell as low as $112.61, only to rebound again.

Investing in oil futures has been a hedge against a sliding dollar, but oil's weekslong drop has helped support the dollar. The prices of the two have tended to move in opposite directions.

Meanwhile, shares of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to sink Wednesday on worries that the government-chartered companies will need a bailout from the Treasury Department, a move that could wipe out shareholders' equity.

The dollar dropped earlier in the week as crude futures surged, the financial sector worried Wall Street and the U.S. government said wholesale prices jumped higher in July.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are betting that time is running out for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Shares of the mortgage finance companies lost more than a fifth of their value on Wednesday as fears mounted that the companies will soon need government support and any bailout would hang stockholders out to dry.

Since Monday, stock in the two companies -- which together hold or guarantee half the U.S. mortgage debt -- have plunged nearly 40 percent and are now trading at lows not seen in nearly two decades.

"There's a big negative feedback loop and there's no way out of it," Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. analyst Paul Miller said in an interview. "As the stock falls more and more, it's more likely the government steps in and more likely equity holders get wiped out."

Fannie Mae's chief executive sought to reassure investors that no bailout is imminent.

"They haven't offered anything and we haven't asked for anything," Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd said in a public radio interview Wednesday morning. "I don't anticipate that they will do that."

Mudd said the company's financial position "remains very strong," and that he intends to remain the CEO.

Executives with McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac met with Treasury department officials on Wednesday morning, according to two sources familiar with the meeting who were not authorized to discuss its