FEDERAL RESERVE

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who had considered stepping down after the government borrowing limit was raised, confirmed on Sunday that he will remain at his post at President Barack Obama's request.

The European Central Bank stepped into bond markets on Monday, backing up a pledge to support Spain and Italy with the aim of averting financial meltdown in the euro zone, while the G7 and G20 offered soothing words to investors shaken by a historic downgrade of the U.S. debt rating.

A downgrade of United States' top-tier credit rating has Wall Street scrambling to figure out the knock-on effects for the financial system, from mortgages to banks to markets that rely on U.S. Treasuries for collateral.

The United States lost its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday, a move that will affect the country's borrowing costs and investor opinion of U.S. assets. Here is a Q+A on what the downgrade means for investors, consumers and to the country.

China roundly condemned the United States for its "debt addiction" and "short sighted" political wrangling and said the world needed a new stable global reserve currency.

In a stunning development, Standard & Poor?s Friday downgraded the U.S. Government's credit rating from AAA to AA+, arguing Washington has made inadequate progress cutting the budget deficit. The U.S. Treasury disagrees with S&P?s analysis and conclusion, but interest rates on U.S. home mortgages and car loans are likely to rise.

U.S. consumer credit borrowing in June jumped to highest numbers since August 2007, the Federal Reserve announced today.

One of the world's leading economists says don't get giddy over the July jobs report, which indicated the U.S. economy created a better-than-expected 117,000 jobs. NYU Professor Nouriel "Dr. Doom" Roubini, who accurately predicted the housing crisis four years ago, says U.S. GDP will be sub-par in 2011 and the risk of a recession is real.

Despite having not yet announced his candidacy, many are seemingly already considering Texas Gov. Rick Perry as the man with the best chance to defeat President Barack Obama in 2012.

Stocks tumbled across the globe on Thursday amid growing worries about the U.S. economy and Europe's mounting debt problems, reviving fears of another deep recession.

World stock markets fell for the eighth straight session on Friday to the lowest since late 2010, with more losses feared if policymakers do not come to the rescue soon to stabilize the euro zone's debt crisis and prevent the U.S. economy from sliding back into recession.

President Barack Obama has asked Timothy Geithner to stay on as Treasury secretary and a decision is expected soon, officials said on Thursday.

The U.S. debt deal means that federal spending will now generate even less demand in the quarters ahead, in an economy that?s already weak, and with an unemployment rate at 9.2 percent. To say the Fed has been monitoring the situation would be an understatement.

Is there oil statistic that can provide a rough "report card" on the U.S. economy and its outlook? Indeed there is.

The world's largest economy was headed toward an unprecedented default, and all Washington wanted to talk about was the manner in which the president had left a room.

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said on Wednesday the Fed might need to give serious consideration to further easing if the economy weakens more than expected and underlying inflation comes down.

Is there one statistic that can provide a quick-read on the U.S. economy's health and outlook? Indeed there is: it's the price of oil.

Two former top officials at the Federal Reserve conditionally endorsed a further round of bond buying by the U.S. central bank to spur a flagging economic recovery, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

The financial problems in Rome in the early part of the third century AD stemmed from a military that was getting too large and expensive (one of the pitfalls of carving a huge empire that became too unwieldy.

Would distributing $3,000 gift cards to every American over age 16 get the U.S. economy out of its slump, and create more jobs? The tactic is unconventional, but if the economy doesn't start creating more jobs soon, Congressional leaders may have to implement the unconventional.

A Beijing-based ratings agency on Wednesday downgraded the U.S. sovereign debt rating, while Western agencies such as Fitch and Moody?s reaffirmed their AAA rating, following Congressional approval of a plan to raise the debt ceiling.