SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- IBM Corp. released third-quarter results ahead of schedule Wednesday that beat Wall Street's estimates, sending the company's stock, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, up 6 percent in after-hours trading.

The Armonk, N.Y.-based company also reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance, a strong sign that IBM's core businesses are holding up well despite the deteriorating U.S. economy.

IBM's shares have tumbled 31 percent since July on concerns that IBM's exposure to the crippled financial services industry, which accounts for 30 percent of the company's sales, would hurt results.

The stock had been performing well for most of the year despite the ailing U.S. economy, rising 25 percent and hitting a 52-week high of $130.93 on July 24 before the shares started sliding.

IBM said after the market closed Wednesday that it earned $2.05 per share in the July-September period, four pennies higher than the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Net income for the period was $2.8 billion, an increase of 20 percent over the same period last year.

Sales increased 5 percent to $25.3 billion but fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Excluding the effects of currency fluctuations, IBM's sales increased 2 percent.

Analysts were expecting sales of $26.5 billion, but analysts had started lowering their estimates ahead of the unexpected announcement Wednesday. They cited the deteriorating economy and a strengthening

NEW YORK (AP) -- American consumers went into hiding in September, leaving retailers with dismal sales and an uncertain future well beyond the holiday season as the fallout from the financial meltdown pushes spending even lower.

As retailers reported their monthly sales figures Wednesday, even discounters weren't immune to shoppers' mounting worries about their financial security.

"Discretionary spending has come to a trickle," said Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC. "Consumers are the most worried I have seen since at least the 1991 recession. There are so many factors laying on their psyche."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said sales of discretionary items were weak as it posted solid results that were nevertheless a bit below expectations. Target Corp. fared far worse, reporting a bigger-than-expected drop and said it is cutting its profit outlook as it expects problems with its credit card business to last through the rest of the year as customers have trouble making payments.

Luxury stores such as Neiman Marcus Group Inc. and Saks Inc. suffered sharp drops as well-heeled shoppers held off on buying $600 stilettos and other luxuries. Many mall-based apparel stores and department stores including J.C. Penney Co. and American Eagle Outfitters Inc. find themselves mired in a deep sales slump.

With no clear spending recovery in sight, retailers are navigating in the dark about how much to cut their spring orders and store expansions to address the dramatic changes in consumer behavior that are

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday agreed to provide insurance giant American International Group Inc. with a loan of up to $37.8 billion, on top of one made to the troubled company last month.

Under the new program, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will borrow up to $37.8 billion in investment-grade, fixed income securities from AIG in return for cash collateral. These securities were previously lent by AIG's insurance company subsidiaries to third parties.

The arrangement will help AIG secure funds on an as-needed basis, the New York-based insurer said in a statement.

As of Monday, about $37.2 billion of securities were available for loans under AIG's securities lending program.

On the brink of failure last month, AIG was bailed out when the government offered it an $85 billion loan during the ongoing credit crisis that saw Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. file for bankruptcy protection and the sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America Corp. In return for the two-year loan, the government received warrants to purchase up to 79.9 percent of AIG.

As of Sept. 30, AIG had drawn $61 billion on the credit facility, of which about $54 billion has gone toward its securities lending and AIG's financial products area. The rest of the money has been for other liquidity needs amid an "unprecedented" freezing of credit markets, Chief Executive Edward Liddy said last week.

Last week, AIG said it would sell off a number of business units to pay off its massive government loan. The company didn't specifically disclose all the assets it would sell or the expected prices from the sales