Main Street 9

U.S. oil prices rose above $35 a barrel  parring but not reversing  nearly 7% drop on renewed economy concerns, slumping demand and bloated inventories. U.S. crude for March delivery rose 32 cents to $35.25 a barrel. “The crude market is still hanging on to the low end of its range,” said Tom Bentz, an analyst at [...]

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General Motors and Chrysler LLC said Tuesday they could need an additional $21.6 billion in federal loans between them because of worsening demand for their cars and trucks. The two firms, in documents submitted to the Treasury Department, also detailed plans to cut 50,000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year. GM said it plans [...]

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Traders said oil’s gains on Thursday were largely driven by news that U.S. lawmakers appeared close to a final agreement on the massive bailout plan, a deal that could help the world’s largest energy-consuming nation avoid a deep recession that would cut deeply into fuel demand. But the deal to rescue the faltering U.S. financial [...]

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President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday outlined a series of far-reaching steps – likely to cost hundreds of billions of dollars – aimed at stemming a widening financial crisis that is roiling the financial markets and undermining confidence in the banking system. “We must act now to protect our nation’s economic health [...]

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  After six years of steady decline, the U.S. currency is on a major upswing, fueled by fears of a global recession and a meltdown in financial markets. The New York dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s value against the currencies of major trading partners, is up 14% off an all-time low set in [...]

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