Briefs: Jesse Jackson plans rally in New York

NEW YORK -- Activist Jesse Jackson will hold a rally on Wall Street next week to persuade the financial community to help people who are foreclosing on their homes amid a deepening mortgage crisis. Jackson wants financial leaders to restructure mortgage plans for people who risk losing their homes because they are falling behind in their payments, he said in a statement. The Monday rally, one of several across the U.S., will be sponsored by Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League, Jackson said in a statement.

Merck forecast below expectations

NEW YORK -- Merck & Co., the third-largest U.S. drugmaker, forecast 2008 earnings that may miss analysts' estimates as generic competition threatens sales. Profit excluding one-time items will increase about 7 percent to $3.28 to $3.38 a share next year, the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company said Tuesday. The median forecast of 20 analysts in a Bloomberg survey was $3.36 a share.

Yahoo Japan, eBay plan to team up

TOKYO -- Yahoo Japan Corp. and eBay Inc. agreed Tuesday to team up in online auctions. Yahoo said by March, Japanese buyers will be able to bid for items up for sale on eBay through the Yahoo auction site in Japan. By the middle of next year, similarly, a site will be set up to allow Americans to buy Yahoo Japan auction items through the eBay site.

OPEC considers oil production

ABU DHABI -- OPEC's big Gulf producers on Tuesday kept the door ajar for an increase in crude exports even though cartel members agree world oil supplies are sufficient. Led by Saudi Arabia, some Gulf members are worried high prices may be exacerbating a downturn in global economic growth, led by a slowdown in the world's biggest oil importer, the U.S. OPEC meets today. Crude Tuesday settled down 99 cents at $88.32 a barrel.