Hints of Stability Emerge in Fragile Financial System

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BY JOELLEN PERRY IN FRANKFURT AND JON HILSENRATH IN WASHINGTON

(See Correction & Amplification below.)

Even as job losses mount and profits plunge, some glimmers of stabilization are emerging in global markets.

In the U.S., Europe and China, separate surveys of manufacturers' purchasing managers all inched upward in January, suggesting that the contraction in manufacturing activity could be slowing. The interest rates at which banks lend to one another are easing. And some credit markets are thawing.

Analysts say rock-bottom official interest rates, promises of massive fiscal-stimulus packages and central banks' other efforts to revive markets have helped ease some tensions in financial markets and may help put a floor ...

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