WASHINGTON - May 3, 2011 - The psychological price-point of $4 a gallon is looming straight ahead, and will likely be hit before the end of the week, based on the rate of recent price escalation.

NEW YORK - May 3, 2011 - There have been increasing concerns about the fate of United States' prized triple-A sovereign debt rating. While Standard and Poor's recently downgraded its U.S. debt outlook to negative from stable, implying that a ratings cut could happen in two years, one independent ratings agency has given the U.S. sovereign rating a "C".

WASHINGTON - April 30, 2011 - Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, Georgia and Michigan, a total of five closures that lifted the number of U.S. bank failures this year to 39.

The pace of closures has slowed, however, as the economy improves and banks work their way through piles of bad debt. By this time last year, regulators had closed 64 banks.

NEW YORK (PNN) - April 28, 2011 - The Dollar Index slid to an almost three-year low, Treasuries rose and gold rallied to a record after economic growth slowed. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed to the highest level since June 2008, as rising earnings and takeovers overshadowed the report on gross domestic product.

WASHINGTON (PNN) - April 28, 2011 - More people sought unemployment benefits last week, the second rise in three weeks, a sign the job market remains entrenched in Depression.

Applications for unemployment benefits jumped 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 for the week ending April 23, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's the highest total since late January.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - April 28, 2011 - The worst drought in more than 40 years intensified across Texas over the last week, with high winds and heat causing "massive crop losses," with little relief in sight, according to weather experts Thursday.

A report released Thursday from a consortium of national climate experts, dubbed the Drought Monitor, said drought worsened along the Texas border with Oklahoma, and in western, central and southern Texas.

NEW YORK - April 26, 2011 - U.S. single-family home prices fell for an eighth straight month in February, showing an industry still mired in Depression.