The bankruptcy of a key lender that helps retailers stock their shelves is adding to the industry's worries ahead of the critical holiday shopping season.
Consumer spending plunged in September by the largest amount in nine months, reflecting the end of the government's Cash for Clunkers auto sales program. Incomes, the fuel for future spending, were flat.
Swiss bank UBS AG reports earnings for the third quarter on Tuesday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
Grim signals about consumer spending ripped through the markets Friday, sending stocks tumbling as investors raced for safe havens.
A German man who founded the hedge fund group K1 was arrested by police amid an investigation into possible fraud that may total some euro200 million ($295.7 million), prosecutors said Thursday.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he sees positive signs that the economy is recovering, although the recession remains "alive and acute" for families dealing with unemployment and facing home foreclosure.
Former Societe Generale SA trader Jerome Kerviel was convicted on all counts Tuesday in one of history's biggest trading frauds, sentenced to three years in jail and ordered to pay the bank a mind-numbing euro4.9 billion ($6.7 billion) in damages.
Stocks fell Wednesday after a drop in sales of new homes gave investors another reason to be cautious.
It's about to become official: The recession is over — but not the pain.
