Investors are heading toward the final month of the year with more questions about the economy than they had just a few weeks ago.

Suddenly the Federal Reserve is everybody's punching bag.

Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation's economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010.

Local governments and public entities, already reeling from the recession, face another fiscal crisis: billions of dollars in fees owed to Wall Street firms on investment deals gone bad.

When the holiday shopping season kicks off the day after Thanksgiving, retailers can expect to see millions of less frightened, but even more bargain-hungry customers.