US sells record debt, China rate cut disappoints

---

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Dec 23 (Reuters): The United States sold a record amount of debt to help fund its efforts to contain the financial crisis and Beijing's fifth rate cut since September failed to boost Chinese shares, as gloomy economic and corporate reports showed the world economy was stuck in a deep rut.
Oil prices extended their sharp fall to drop further below $40 a barrel Tuesday, weakened anew by growing signs of dwindling world oil demand.
New Zealand's economy contracted by its biggest amount in eight years in the third quarter, sliding deeper into recession and backing the case for more rate cuts there.
Final third-quarter US gross domestic product data due later Tuesday is likely to underscore the ailing state of the world economy, as a steady series of stimulus measures and policy moves fail to halt a slide toward the worst recession in decades.
Chinese markets' response to Monday's 0.27 percentage point rate cut by the People's Bank of China highlighted the limitations of the policy tools available to confront deepening economic woes and the ensuing erosion of investor confidence.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slid 4.55 per cent Tuesday to a three-week closing low, as investors had expected a much bigger rate cut.