On his first day as the new CEO of Wachovia Corp., Robert Steel saw the stock tumble to a 17-year low and faced questions about his ability to rescue the nation's fourth-largest bank from its own missteps and the roiling credit market. ...more

July 11, 2008

Just a few months ago, the consensus view was that Barack Obama would need to choose a hard-core national-security type as his vice presidential running mate to compensate for his lack of foreign policy experience and that John McCain would need a running mate who was young and sprightly to compensate for his age. ...more

July 1, 2008

There are new signs that the worst of the global credit crisis is yet to come, and that banks and brokerages caught up in the market turmoil may lose $1 trillion by the time it has passed. ...more

June 19, 2008

Fifth Third Bancorp., trying to shore up its capital base amid rising loan losses, said Wednesday it will slash its dividend by nearly two-thirds and try to raise $2 billion with a stock offering and the sale of some noncore businesses. ...more

June 19, 2008

Lehman Bros. Chief Executive Richard Fuld on Monday took the blame for the company's staggering second-quarter loss and said the investment bank was too slow in reacting to the credit crisis. ...more

June 17, 2008

Lehman Bros. Holdings on Monday confirmed fears on Wall Street that the credit crisis isn't quite over, and it left investors to wonder whether other major investment banks face the same set of risks. ...more

June 10, 2008

NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless has agreed to buy Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion, which would make it by far the largest cellular carrier in the U.S. ...more

June 5, 2008

Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. plummeted in New York trading after Standard & Poor's lowered credit ratings for the investment banks, saying they may have to book more write-downs on devalued assets. ...more

June 3, 2008

Anyone filling up the tank of their car right now will be cursing oil speculators. Likewise, anyone loading up a shopping cart with food for a family may feel angry with hedge-fund managers pushing the cost of wheat, rice and other basics through the roof. ...more

May 30, 2008

SEBRING — It seems the pain at the pump may not be the only way we'll pay for high gasoline prices. While medical device repairman Jason Rybinski is parking his 2005 GMC Sierra pickup truck in favor of a Japanese sedan, Sheriff Susan Benton is upping her 2009 gasoline budget from $498,000 to $800,000. So even though the sheriff has told her department heads to assemble a flat budget, more tax money than ever will buy fuel for deputies to protect Highlands County. ...more

May 25, 2008