News and Finance

President-elect Barack Obama called for urgent passage of a stimulus package to reinvigorate a faltering economy that saw unemployment hit a 14-year high on Friday while U.S. automakers reported billions in losses.
European Union leaders also met in Brussels ahead of a global summit in Washington next week, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said they […]

ATLANTA — Discount carrier AirTran Airways says it would be willing to discuss a codeshare agreement with larger rival Southwest Airlines Co.
"If Southwest was willing to talk, we’d certainly be willing to listen," AirTran Chief Executive Bob Fornaro told analysts on a conference call Thursday.
Codeshare agreements allow airlines to sell seats on […]

Experts are cautiously optimistic that the massive federal bailout of the nation’s financial sector will solve the credit crisis that hit Wall Street this week.
But questions remain about whether it will prevent more failures of banks and Wall Street firms and many doubt this will lead to a quick turnaround for the battered housing […]

Hurricane Gustav slammed into the Gulf coast Monday morning, but oil prices fell as the world market expected that the storm’s impact on the energy infrastructure would not be as serious as previously believed.f
Gustav, a Category 3 hurricane before it hit Louisiana mid-morning, was downgraded to a Category 2 storm prior to making landfall.
With […]

Hurricane Gustav caused little damage to Gulf Coast onshore and offshore facilities, according to oil companies, rig owners and refiners, which resumed operations Tuesday.
Though the full impact of the hurricane on the facilities won’t be known until later this week, the Associated Press reports that the price of oil fell more than $8 a barrel […]

Prime mortgages are starting to default at disturbingly high rates - a development that threatens to slow any potential housing recovery.
The delinquency rate for prime mortgages worth less than $417,000 was 2.44% in May, compared with 1.38% a year earlier, according to LoanPerformance, a unit of First American (FAF, Fortune 500) CoreLogic that compiles […]

American Airlines will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off possibly thousands of workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices.
American plans to cut domestic flight capacity by 11% to 12% in the fourth quarter, after the peak summer season is over. That’s more than double American’s […]

Swiss National Bank Governing Board member Thomas Jordan said the current level of interest rates in Switzerland is “appropriate'' and that the central bank is closely monitoring risks to inflation and economic growth.
“There are no indications that the interest rate level is not appropriate for the foreseeable future,'' Jordan told reporters today after […]

As taxpayers rush to file tax returns, independent auditors are warning that the Internal Revenue Service has not done enough to safeguard some of its computer systems, leaving sensitive taxpayer information vulnerable to disgruntled IRS employees, contractors or hackers.
Unscrupulous people could "reconfigure [computer] routers and switches" and "steal taxpayer information in a number of […]

Mortgage rates were mixed this week as the index of leading indicators fell for the fifth straight month, home prices continued their decline and consumer confidence reached a 5-year low, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
The government-sponsored loan buyer said 30-year fixed-rate loans averaged 5.85% for the week ending Thursday, down from 5.87% last week. […]