Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday called for the United States to whittle down its record-high budget deficits and for countries like China to get their consumers to spend more, moves that would help combat skewed global trade and investment flows that contributed to the financial...

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered a $6 billion lifeline to struggling lender CIT Group Inc. (CIT). In a letter Monday to CIT's board of directors, Icahn said he would give the company the loan to replace a debt restructuring plan CIT has submitted to its bondholders for approval. Icahn, who...

After getting worrisome signs about consumers from bankers' earnings reports, investors will be looking at a broad range of companies this week for further insights into the outlook for the economy. Consumer-focused companies including Apple (AAPL), McDonald's (MCD), appliance maker Whirlpool (WHR)...

There are signs the nation's factories are stirring from one of the worst recessions in decades. Investors this week will find out how awake they really are. Big manufacturers such as Boeing (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and 3M (NYSE: MMM) will report results and, possibly, provide evidence...

The federal budget deficit has surged to an all-time high of $1.42 trillion as the recession caused tax revenues to plunge while the government was spending massive amounts to stabilize the financial system and jump-start the economy. The imbalance for the budget year ended Sept. 30, more than...

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said Friday it lost more than $2 billion in the third quarter as loan losses kept rising, providing further evidence that consumers are still struggling to pay their bills. The nation's second-largest bank, which lost $2.24 billion after accounting for preferred...

The continued woes at General Electric's (GE) big financial unit fueled a big drop in its third-quarter earnings, outweighing signs of improvement in its divisions that make heavy machinery and other industrial equipment, the company said Friday. GE posted a 44-percent decline in profit to $2.4...

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) lost money in the third quarter but said Thursday that sales were stronger than expected, adding to mounting evidence that consumer spending is fueling a turnaround in the personal computer market. AMD sells about 20 percent of the world's computer...

Citigroup (C) provided a sobering reminder Thursday that the economy is still struggling, reporting that its third quarter results were weighed down by billions of dollars in failed loans. The bank reported a $101 million profit before accounting for $288 million in preferred stock dividends and...

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s (GS) third-quarter earnings rose 73 percent from the depths of the financial crisis as income from the company's trading operations offset a drop in its investment banking business. Goldman's stock fell three percent early Thursday as investors reacted to the slide in...