AP - Diana Bardsley wiped tears from her eyes as she recalled taking food off her plate to feed her beloved spaniel Hunter and two Siamese cats.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson assured investors in the oil-rich Gulf region on Monday that the United States will remain open to sovereign wealth funds.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday defended the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency and said its recent decline was only a small factor behind a surge in oil prices.

Reuters - Major automakers are expected to post steep declines in U.S. sales for May, as the spike in gasoline prices battered an industry already reeling from weak consumer confidence and tighter credit.

AP - Brent Saba had just dropped a church group off at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday morning and was heading north on Interstate 95 when it happened: His 15-passenger van ran out of gas.

Reuters - Stocks slid on Monday on renewed fears the credit crunch has yet to run its course after Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on three big securities firms, Wachovia ousted its chief executive, and a British mortgage lender said the UK home market was in dire straits.

Reuters - Construction spending slipped in April as home building continued to plummet, but private spending on non-residential projects rose for a third straight month, government data showed on Monday.

Reuters - Record high U.S. gas prices threaten a new level of pain for casual dining restaurants stuck between value-oriented fast food and high-end eateries whose customers can afford to shrug off the economy's woes.

Reuters - Manufacturing contracted in May for the fourth consecutive month and inflation pressures surged to their highest in four years, heightening fears the world's largest economy could be sliding toward stagflation.

Reuters - Standard & Poor's in a sweeping move on Monday that rocked markets cut ratings on a number of major U.S. securities firms including Lehman Brothers Inc and said outlooks on the large U.S. financial institutions are now mostly negative.

AP - Gasoline held steady near an average $3.98 a gallon at the pump Monday as a recent slide in oil futures stalled gas' advance to the $4 mark. Oil prices, meanwhile, rose on concerns about heating oil supplies and after an OPEC official said there's no need for the cartel to pump more oil.