Declining consumer confidence took a bite out of restaurants' sales and profits in 2008, leading to bankruptcy filings at casual-dining chains, such as Bennigan's, and the closure of more than 600 Starbucks locations. ...more

January 2, 2009

Wall Street saw a merciful end Wednesday to a dreadful year as stocks closed the last session of 2008 with a sizable advance. ...more

January 1, 2009

A year that started poorly got worse for many of the nation's home improvement retailers, as the housing market meltdown pushed the economy toward recession and financial institutions sparked a global economic disaster. ...more

January 1, 2009

New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, the government said Wednesday. ...more

December 25, 2008

Madoff Monitored By Feds; Obama Reacts To Scandal NEW YORK (AP) - Bernard Madoff spent his first day under electronic monitoring Thursday as President-elect Barack Obama said the scandal brought on by the disgraced investor "has reminded us yet again of how badly reform is needed." ...more

December 21, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - An alarming half-million American jobs vanished virtually in a flash last month, the worst mass layoffs in over a third of a century, as economic carnage spread ever faster and the U.S. hurtled toward what could be the hardest hard times since the Great Depression. ...more

December 7, 2008

"The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch," by Michael Wolff (Broadway Books, $29.95) ...more

December 7, 2008

An alarming half-million American jobs vanished last month, the worst mass layoffs in more than a third of a century, as economic carnage spread ever faster and the nation hurtled toward what could be the hardest hard times since the Great Depression. ...more

December 6, 2008

The government must toughen its monitoring of the $700 billion financial bailout to ensure that banking institutions limit their top executives' pay and comply with other restrictions, federal auditors said Tuesday in the first comprehensive review of the rescue package. ...more

December 2, 2008

The reality that the nation is indeed in recession and that the downturn may well be prolonged sent Wall Street plunging Monday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 700 points and wiping out more than half of last week's big gains. ...more

December 2, 2008