Dow ends week up despite 3 days of losses

The stock market ended a down week with light selling as investors grew uneasy about a rising dollar and spiking demand for the safest government debt.

Long-term unemployed face dwindling options 

For Lawrie Covey and millions of other unemployed workers, life remains a day-to-day struggle. Instead of working on RVs in a factory, she may soon be living in one.

Pace of job losses slows in many states

In a sharp improvement, more than half of U.S. states added jobs in October, though economists said many of the gains likely occurred in temporary employment.

Forbes: World's most expensive homes

Prices have dipped, but some sellers are certain their nine-figure properties will attract buyers.

Report: Hershey may launch bid for Cadbury

Hershey Co. may make a $17 billion bid for UK candy company Cadbury PLC, topping the recent $16.5 billion hostile offer by Kraft Foods Inc., the Wall Street Journal reports Friday.

Senate panel to consider Bernanke nomination

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's nomination to a second term will be the subject of a Senate Banking Committee hearing next month, the panel's chairman said Friday.

Newsweek: Students hit by high-interest loans

Not long ago, low-interest student loans were easy to come by. But the downturn and ensuing credit crunch put an end to that.

Chase drops arbitration from card contracts

JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped a clause from its credit card contracts that required disputes with customers to be handled through binding arbitration.

RV industry no longer running on empty

There are signs of recovery in the nation's heartland, including Elkhart, Ind., but the rebound is faint, uneven and faces many threats.

Angry Congress lashes out at Obama

Growing discontent over the economy, recovery efforts turn into a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the administration.

8 ways to slash your holiday budget

It's possible to enjoy the holidays without spending lots of money.  Here are eight simple ways to trim your budget.

Electric car maker Tesla seen going public

Electric sports car maker Tesla Motors plans to go public soon, two sources familiar with the matter said, amid growing interest in green technology and battery-powered vehicles.

Investors to Goldman: Be less greedy

Big shareholders at Goldman Sachs have asked the U.S. bank, on track to deliver $20 billion in bonuses, to pass more profit to investors after it quadrupled quarterly net profit.

UPS sets new rates for 2010

UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, is hiking 2010 rates for ground packages by an average of 4.9 percent.

Will Ferrell is Hollywood's most overpaid star

Will Ferrell and British actor Ewan McGregor headed a Forbes.com list of Hollywood's most overpaid stars when looking at the financial returns of their movies.

Natural gas falls 15 percent this month

Natural gas prices have dropped by more than 12 percent in the past month as the country continues to sip at its energy reserves and a balmy November allowed homeowners to leave the heat off.

Replacing a real estate agent with a Web site

Selling a home without a real estate agent can save thousands of dollars in commission fees, but it can also be a painstaking, confusing task. Foregoing an agent, however, is easier these days thanks to Web sites that help homeowners advertise their properties.

U.S. airlines' passenger revenue falls

Passenger revenue among U.S. airlines fell 15 percent in October compared to the same month last year, an industry trade group said Friday.

Smucker's profit surges after acquiring Folgers

J.M. Smucker Co.'s acquisition of Folgers Coffee Co. continues to pay off for the jam maker, helping to more than double its fiscal second-quarter profit, as consumers continue to turn to the company's well-known brands and eat at home more during the recession.

Europe: Drop some financial system crutches

It is time to withdraw some of the policy measures that supported the financial system through the credit crunch, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet says.

VW to buy Karmann Ghia-maker's assets

Volkswagen says it will buy some assets of the maker of the iconic Karmann Ghia to create a new manufacturing subsidiary that will eventually build a new car model.

House panel votes to audit Federal Reserve

A key House committee voted to assess upfront fees on large financial firms to pay for the failure of their peers and to require a congressional audit of the secretive Federal Reserve.

Watchdog: Stimulus job creation data flawed

The government watchdog overseeing economic stimulus spending said Thursday that, in its rush to take credit for saving hundreds of thousands of jobs, the Obama administration was overly confident in its job-counting.

To lower rates, Citi customers must spend

For Citibank credit card holders, there is one way to escape the bank's rate hikes currently under way: Meet a monthly spending requirement.

Rain may put pumpkin pie in peril

Nestle — which sells nearly all the canned pumpkin in the U.S. — says poor weather hurt its harvest, creating a potential shortage of its Libby's pumpkin pie products through the holidays.

ConsumerMan: Clean clothes, stinky problem

When you buy a new washing machine, you don’t expect it to stink up your house. But that seems to be a common problem for people who own high-efficiency front-loading washers.

10 strange-looking foreign cars

Americans have bought foreign cars by the boatload for decades. But some of them may be a little too foreign. Here’s our roundup of foreign cars that don’t just look foreign, they look alien.

AOL to shed one-third of work force

AOL, an Internet company struggling to adapt to an advertising-driven economy, is looking to shed more than a third of its work force as it prepares to spin off from Time Warner next month.

Mortgage delinquencies hit record high

A rising proportion of fixed-rate home loans made to people with good credit are sinking into foreclosure, adding to concerns about the strength of the economic recovery.

Dell profit falls 54 percent amid PC slump

Dell Inc. said Thursday that its net income dropped 54 percent in the latest quarter and amid signs the company isn't fully benefiting from the computer industry's fledgling recovery.