AP - Stocks plunged Thursday as Wall Street contended with a barrage of bad news: another surge in oil prices and warnings of trouble in the key financial, automotive and high-tech industries. The major indexes showed losses of about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which shed more than 300 points and dropped to its lowest level in nearly two years.

Reuters - The pace of existing home sales rose in May to a 4.99 million-unit annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said in a report on Thursday that slightly beat analyst expectations.

Reuters - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose in May and the glut of homes for sale shrank, but prices were off sharply from a year ago, suggesting the housing sector remains a big weight on the economy.

AFP - Oil prices slid Wednesday after official data revealed an unexpected rise in crude stockpiles in the United States, the world's biggest energy consumer, traders said.

AP - Wall Street ended an erratic day with a modest gain after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and issued a mixed assessment of the economy.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Wednesday, as the price of oil declined, while the Federal Reserve held its key interest rate steady and reduced expectations for a rate hike at its next meeting.

Reuters - U.S. durable goods orders held steady last month, but sales of new single-family homes fell, government data showed on Wednesday, highlighting a weak economy as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged.

Reuters - Oil fell more than $2 on Wednesday after U.S. weekly data showed crude inventories in the world's top consumer rising as high fuel prices continued to erode demand.

Reuters - High gas prices are driving strangers into each others' cars in San Francisco.

AFP - A government survey Wednesday showed sales of new homes tumbled 2.5 percent across the United States in May amid unsettled economic times, as Federal Reserve policymakers opted to keep interest rates on hold.

AP - The holiday shopping season is still months away, but already a growing number of economists are predicting that it could even be worse than last year — which is to say, disastrous.

AP - Sales of new homes tumbled for the sixth time in seven months in May while median prices kept plunging, underscoring the depth of the nation's housing woes.