WASHINGTON — The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell below 4 percent for just the second time in history. Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on the 30-year fixed loan fell to 3.99 percent, down from 4 percent ...

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WASHINGTON — The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level since April, a sign that employers could be stepping up hiring. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications dropped to a ...

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WASHINGTON — The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4 percent this week, nearly matching the all-time low hit just one month ago. Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on the 30-year loan dropped from 4.10 percent ...

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NEW YORK — Stocks are falling in midday trading following poor corporate earnings and reports that a key meeting between finance ministers in Europe has been cancelled. Manufacturing leader 3M cut its 2011 earnings forecast, and U.S. Steel warned that ...

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WASHINGTON — Consumers spent slightly more last month but earned less for the first time in nearly two years. The new data on spending and incomes suggest Americans tapped their savings to cope with steep gas prices and a weaker ...

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WASHINGTON — The world’s major economic powers are pledging to launch a bold effort to deal with a chronic slowdown in growth and a European debt crisis threatening to push the global economy into another recession. But so far, markets ...

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WASHINGTON — Fixed mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in six decades for the second straight week. But few Americans can take advantage of the historically low rates. Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year ...

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NEW YORK — A late afternoon rally pushed the stock market higher for only the second day this month. Major indexes spent most of Monday lower as investors worried that Greece could be edging closer to default. The yield on ...

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EDINBURGH, Scotland — Rupert Murdoch, who was driven off Page One, may be the only one to find something good in the recent implosion of confidence and credit in governments around much of the world. President Barack Obama and Congress ...

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WASHINGTON — Six days away from a potentially calamitous government default, House Republicans appeared to be coalescing Wednesday around a work-in-progress plan by House Speaker John Boehner to increase the U.S. borrowing limit and chop $1 trillion in federal spending. ...

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