Investors have reignited Wall Street's rally after hearing the government's plan to help banks remove as much as $1 trillion in bad assets from their books.
Wall Street closed out its first two-week gain in almost a year Friday barely. After a mixed start, stocks veered lower in the afternoon as financial stocks fell and investors collected profits from the advance that saw the Dow rise 14 percent over seven trading days.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday called for banking supervisors to pay "close attention" to compensation practices as they examine the soundness of financial institutions.
The Treasury Department, trying to stabilize the battered auto industry, will provide up to $5 billion in financing to troubled auto parts suppliers who are linked to Detroit's carmakers, officials said Thursday.
Oil prices hit news highs for the year Thursday after a decision by the Federal Reserve to spend billions snapping up U.S. bonds sent the dollar tumbling.
A private sector group's index of leading economic indicators dropped less than expected in February, but its broad decline of the past 19 months persisted and is unlikely to end until next year.
The Andersons, African-Americans who rose from humble means, are attempting to spend their money for one year exclusively with black-owned businesses and are encouraging other African-Americans to do the same.
