Chicago Suntimes Business

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shut down Chicago's Ravenswood Bank on Friday and handed off its accounts to Northbrook Bank & Trust Co.

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market’s big rally is pausing after disappointing earnings and economic reports raise concerns about the strength of the economic recovery.

LOS ANGELES — Countrywide Financial Corp. agreed to pay $600 million to settle shareholder lawsuits in the largest payout so far from the mortgage meltdown.

WASHINGTON — Consumers did not boost their spending in June and their incomes failed to increase, further evidence that the economic recovery slowed in the spring. And Americans saved at the highest rate in nearly a year.

WASHINGTON — Factory orders fell in June for the second straight month due to lower demand for steel, construction machinery and aircraft.

WASHINGTON — The number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase homes dropped in June, as the weak economy and tight lending standards kept consumers away from the housing market.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday it would be “deeply irresponsible” for the Obama administration to support a wholesale extension of Bush era tax cuts, including breaks for the wealthy.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Co. says its U.S. July sales rose slightly from June, an indication that uneasy consumers are still spending on big-ticket items such as cars and trucks.

Starting Friday, shoppers can take advantage of a state sales tax holiday on most back-to-school items.

Those receiving state unemployment benefits may resume certifying for those benefits by telephone, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Monday. Damage from a flood that disrupted telephone certification service last week at the agency, which dispenses the benefits, has been repaired.

Next time you write a check, the cashier just may run it through electronically -- and immediately -- and hand you back the voided and cashed check, according to a consumer tip issued Monday by the Federal Trade Commission. That means you must have money in your bank account to cover the check right then and there.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The blinged-out Cadillac Escalade SUV, a favorite of A-listers like Tiger Woods, is once again the vehicle voted most likely to be stolen, according to an insurance industry group.

Sidney Harman, the 91-year-old founder of audio equipment maker Harman International Industries, has agreed to buy Newsweek, ending a nearly half-century chapter for the magazine as part of the Washington Post Co. Newsweek's declines in circulation and advertising led to a nearly $30 million loss in 2009. It expects to lose money again this year.

The latest form of identity theft doesn't depend on stealing your Social Security number. Now thieves are targeting your kid's number long before the little one even has a bank account.