EMC Insurance Group Inc. said today that record storm losses during the third quarter resulted in an operating loss of 2 cents per share. In the same quarter last year, EMC had operating income of 50 cents a share. For the first nine months of 2008, operating income stands at 63 cents per share, compared with $2.52 a share in 2007. EMC reported a net loss of nearly $9.5 million for the third quarter and a net loss of nearly $2.2 million for the year. Catastrophe and storm losses for the year have totaled $49 million, or $2.34 a share.

Gannett Co. Inc., publisher of USA Today and The Des Moines Register, said Friday that its third-quarter profits fell 32 percent as it saw less advertising revenue than last year as part of broader cutbacks in a worsening economy, the Associated Press reported. The results are largely in line with Wall Street expectations after adjusting for severance costs from major job reductions. The company’s net income was $158 million, or 69 cents a share, on revenue of $1.64 billion.

Three foundations and an insurance fund have sued Wells Fargo & Co., accusing one of its units of defrauding them by investing in mortgage-backed securities. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance Association, the Minnesota Medical Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation and the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation for Children. It claims Wells Fargo engaged in consumer fraud and unlawful trade practices by investing in risky financial instruments and altering financial statements to inflate the investments’ value. Wells Fargo said in a statement that it disputed the allegations in the lawsuit.

The National Association of Realtors reported today that sales of existing homes in the Midwest increased 4.4 percent to an annual pace of 1.19 million in September, but are 2.5 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $152,500, which is 7.9 percent lower than September 2007. Nationally, sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops rose 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million units in September from a level of 4.91 million units in August, and are 1.4 percent higher than the 5.11 million-unit pace in September 2007.

American International Group Inc. (AIG) has borrowed $90.3 billion from the Federal Reserve’s $123 billion rescue loan credit line as of Thursday, the bulk of it to pay off bad bets the company made in guaranteeing other firms’ risky mortgage investments, the Washington Post reported. That figure is up from roughly $83 billion AIG had borrowed a week ago, and the $68 billion level it reached a week before that. The news comes as the company’s new chief executive warned Wednesday that the government’s financial lifeline may not be enough to keep AIG afloat. The high volume of taxpayer funds that the trillion-dollar corporation tapped within five weeks also has others fretting that the largest government bailout in history may still not be adequate.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said Friday that it would reduce its oil production by at least 1.5 million barrels a day to stem what it called “a dramatic collapse” in oil prices as the world economy slows down and oil demand shrinks, The New York Times reported. The reduction will go into effect on Nov. 1, according to Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister. But OPEC’s announcement failed to slow the downward spiral in prices. Oil futures in electronic trading in New York fell as much as 7 percent to $63 a barrel, their lowest since May 2007. Oil prices have been more than halved since peaking at $147 a barrel in July.