financial advisers urge calm

Roller-coaster ride worries local investors

By Jim Warren and Michelle Ku

Lexington investment advisers and their clients continued to feel like passengers on an amusement park roller coaster Friday as the stock market made more dips and swings, briefly falling below 8,000 before finishing down more than 100 points.

Berea hangs in as colleges face financial straits

By Justin Pope

For many colleges, the last 15 years have been a golden age. Philanthropy and Americans' grudging tolerance for high tuition fueled an unprecedented boom — investments in everything from gyms, dorms and labs to faculty and expanded financial aid.

Close-UP Pockets of prosperity

Mineral-rich states prosper as others struggle

By Daniel Wagner

WASHINGTON — As the national economic meltdown takes its toll on local economies, some out-of-the-way states are enjoying unprecedented prosperity. Home prices in states like West Virginia, Wyoming and North Dakota continue to rise, wages are growing and unemployment is at record lows.

'Nobody wants to take on any risk'

Associated Press

NEW YORK — A runaway train of a sell-off turned the anniversary of the stock market peak into one of the worst days in Wall Street history Thursday, driving the Dow Jones industrials down a breathtaking 679 points and deepening a financial crisis that has defied all efforts to stop it.

Q&A: Fed 101 Rate cut might help, but not immediately

Meltdown 101: How can the Fed's rate cut help?

By Christopher S. Rugaber

WASHINGTON — Will U.S. consumers benefit from the interest rate cuts announced Wednesday by the Federal Reserve and several other countries' central banks? For most people, probably not much, at least for a while. But people with strong credit could see lower credit card rates soon, and the move could eventually help point the economy in the right direction.

Customer base, sales grow at thrift stores nationwide

By Alan Scher Zagier

Forget about the outdated notion of thrift shops as the refuge of the working poor, the down-and-out or the vintage fashion hipster. In these troubled times, the powerful lure of a secondhand retail bargain is attracting a whole new breed of customer.

US stocks set to join global sell-off
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By JOE BEL BRUNO

Wall Street looked set to plunge along with markets across the world on Wednesday as fears about the growing financial crisis and fears of a global recession continued to rattle investors. Dow Jones industrial futures dropped 140 points.

Retirement accounts have lost $2 trillion - so far

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months - about 20 percent of their value - Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday as lawmakers began investigating how turmoil in the financial industry is whittling away workers' nest eggs.

Fed, central banks cut rates to aid world economy

By JEANNINE AVERSA

The Federal Reserve and six other major central banks from around the world slashed interest rates Wednesday in an attempt to prevent a mushrooming financial crisis from becoming a global economic meltdown.

Bernanke: Crisis could prolong economic pain

By JEANNINE AVERSA

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Tuesday that the financial crisis has not only darkened the country's current economic performance but also could prolong the pain.

Crisis goes global

Markets fall worldwide; Dow now below 10,000

By Kevin G. Hall

WASHINGTON — The U.S. financial crisis spread around the world like a wildfire on Monday as stock prices plunged here and abroad amid eroding confidence in the world's banking system.