Business

President Barack Obama says lobbyists pushing for projects in the stimulus package can't utter a word about them to administration officials.

Commercial banks lost $9.2 billion trading derivatives during the fourth quarter as the credit crisis intensified, according to a report released Friday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Stocks are retreating in early trading as investors cash in some of this month's big gains.

The government says consumers increased spending for a second straight month in February even though their incomes slipped due to continuing massive layoffs.

President Barack Obama wants to hear from the chief executives of some of the country's biggest banks as he caps a week in which he clarified his overall plan for stabilizing the financial system.

The administration wants Congress to act quickly on legislation that would give it sweeping new powers to seize financial firms whose collapse could jeopardize the U.S. economy, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday.

Investors returned to Wall Street Wednesday after getting fresh signs that their doomsday forecast for the economy might have been overdone.

Because of lax oversight, undeserving companies collected millions in federal contracts from an $8 billion government program designated for small businesses in poor neighborhoods, congressional investigators charge.

Stock futures signaled a higher open Wednesday after Wall Street got another sign that its doomsday forecast for the economy might have been overdone.

The government said Tuesday it has provided $80.7 million to 10 banks in the latest payments from the $700 billion financial rescue fund.