AP - Amid the gloom of higher gas and food prices and a slumping housing market, Americans appear to be looking for a bit of hope.

Reuters - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the U.S. economy and how to bolster it, his campaign said.

Reuters - Consumer confidence halted a six-month slide in July, but barely climbed from its lowest level in more than a decade, while home prices continued their record decline in May.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama agreed on Tuesday that Washington must restore confidence in mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Obama's spokesman said.

AP - Stocks rebounded Tuesday after the previous session's steep tumble, as a drop in oil prices and a rise in consumer confidence gave investors hope for a possible letup in Americans' financial woes. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 190 points.

AP - The Bush administration and federal banking regulators joined with the nation's four largest banks Monday to endorse a new way to pump money into the battered U.S. mortgage market.

Reuters - The Treasury and the nation's four biggest banks on Monday said they will kick-start a market for an investment product to support home financing in the latest effort to spur a slumping housing market.

Reuters - The Bush administration on Monday projected the U.S. budget deficit will soar to a record of nearly half a trillion dollars in fiscal 2009 as a housing-led economic slowdown cuts into government revenues.

AP - A national survey shows gas prices have dropped a fraction below the $4-dollar mark.

Reuters - General Motors Corp is in negotiations with Hummer dealers to buy out stores as it looks to sell the SUV brand whose popularity has plunged amid high gas prices, Automotive News reported on Monday.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the nation's four biggest banks were ready to kick-start a market for covered bonds that could help significantly expand home mortgage financing.

AP - Franca Tantillo puts rising fuel prices in the same category as the springtime hail storm that wiped out part of her strawberry crop. Both cut into the profit she can make at the farmers markets she sells at in New York City, about 135 miles south of her farm.

Reuters - The Bush administration on Monday projected the U.S. budget deficit will soar to a new record of nearly half a trillion dollars in fiscal 2009 as a housing-led economic slowdown cuts into government revenues.