AP - Consumer spending is down and gas prices are up. That's bad math for the scores of destination retailers across the country that want customers to fill up the tank for a gas-guzzling day of retail therapy.

AP - After weeks of one negative report after another, the economy finally got some news Friday that wasn't half bad.

AFP - The dollar fell against the euro and yen on Friday as the market awaited publication of US housing figures and data on consumer sentiment in the world's biggest, but struggling, economy.

Reuters - Home foreclosure filings rose 14 percent in the second quarter, the eighth consecutive quarterly climb, and more than doubled from the same period a year-earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Friday.

Reuters - New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose unexpectedly in June on a surge in defense orders while a gauge of business investment was also higher than forecast in signs of economic resilience, a government report showed on Friday.

Reuters - U.S. consumer sentiment recovered from early 1980s lows in July as Americans received tax rebate checks from the government but remained pressured by high gasoline prices and falling home values.

AP - Upbeat economic data lifted stocks Friday, placating a market pummeled a day earlier by concerns about housing and the financial sector.

Reuters - Sales of newly constructed U.S. single-family homes were stronger than expected in June, and inventories shrank to three-and-a-half-year low, a government report showed on Friday, providing a glimmer of hope for the beaten-down housing market.

Reuters - Consumer sentiment rebounded in July from a 28-year low and business investment rose unexpectedly last month, according to data on Friday that showed rare signs of resilience for the U.S. economy.

AP - An awful lot of the oil produced in the United States comes from the nation's northernmost state. So why are gas prices at Alaska's filling stations among the highest in the country?

AFP - New US home sales fell 0.6 percent in June to a better than expected pace as declining prices appeared to lure wary buyers back into the devastated market, government data showed Friday.