Business News

NEW YORK - Adrienne Radtke plans to keep riding her bike to work even if gas prices drop. Steve Pizzini got rid of his Cadillac Escalade in favor of a 16-year-old Acura and doesn't expect to have another gas-guzzler.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy needs months to recover from its slowdown, but the banking system remains sound despite a home mortgage crisis that could cause more problems, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The U.S. housing crisis looks pretty distant when viewed from the cornfields of middle America, although land values pushed up by record commodity prices also evoke past booms that ended in bust.

NEW YORK - Wall Street surged higher last week, but that's cold comfort to people whose stock portfolios are still down more than 10 percent this year.

NEW YORK (AFP) - A newly revived Wall Street faces a fresh test of momentum in the coming week with a wave of corporate results that may indicate whether the latest rebound is for real.

BEIJING - The former president of a major Chinese stock brokerage has gone on trial on insider-trading charges in connection with the company's 2006 stock market debut, a state news agency reported Saturday.

NEW YORK (AFP) - A newly revived Wall Street faces a fresh test of momentum in the coming week with a wave of corporate results that may indicate whether the latest rebound is for real.

SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. shares plunged nearly 10 percent Friday after the Internet search leader's second-quarter earnings missed analysts' expectations.

NEW YORK - Citigroup has become the latest big bank to quell Wall Street's worries about a financial sector implosion, posting a $2.5 billion second-quarter loss that was smaller than expected.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Car maker Ford Motor Co is drawing up plans to retool American plants to make small, fuel-efficient passenger cars that it mainly makes and sells in Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

WASHINGTON - Sometimes, I guess, timing is everything. When DaimlerChrysler AG announced in 2006 that it planned to bring the Smart fortwo micro car to the United States after nearly a decade in Europe, gas prices had reached about $2.80 a gallon. Now, Americans are paying more than $4 a gallon at the pump, SUV sales are plummeting and consumers are hungry for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The widow of a man who disappeared during their honeymoon cruise said Friday in court that he mixed prescription drugs with alcohol the night he vanished three years ago on the Mediterranean Sea.

Universities and their alumni associations have discovered an unlikely and disturbing source of revenue: Increasingly, they are selling students' personal information to big credit-card companies eager for young customers.

These are tough times for job seekers. The U.S. unemployment rate held steady in June at 5.5%, the highest rate since October 2004. The outlook is especially bleak in residential construction and automobiles, and for workers without a college degree.

Volkswagen has selected Chattanooga as the site for a new U.S. assembly plant. Tennessee, the home of Jack Daniel's, beat out Alabama and Michigan for the investment and jobs that go along with it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy will need months to recover from a growth slowdown caused by a home mortgage crisis, turmoil in financial markets and high energy prices, Treasure Secretary Henry Paulson said on Sunday.

NEW YORK - Federal rescue plans are all the rage in Washington right now, for what seems to be everything but the dollar. The U.S. currency is not going to get a bailout, even though its steep decline is feeding inflation and straining the economy.

NEW YORK - Adrienne Radtke plans to keep riding her bike to work even if gas prices drop. Steve Pizzini got rid of his Cadillac Escalade in favor of a 16-year-old Acura and doesn't expect to have another gas-guzzler.