Economy

Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan was famous for his hard-to-read comments on the economy -- but now that he's retired, he's warning that the U.S. economy could be headed for a slowdown. Stephen Beard reports on what European economists are predicting.

Oil hit yet another record high on the world market today, topping $83 a barrel. But experts say the price might be artificially inflated by investors flocking to oil as an investment hedge against a dollar in decline. Jill Barshay reports.

China is unveiling a new investment organization tomorrow geared towards spreading some of its vast amount of money around the world. Lisa Napoli talked to Scott Tong in Shanghai about where the money might go.

If you're irked by American vendors who never seem to be able to break that $20 from the ATM, be thankful you're not in Guatemala. Brett Neely found out that some tourists find it nearly impossible to break the huge bills ATMs spit out over there.

Author and social critic Naomi Klein's new book argues that disasters or major events provide an opening for governments to make changes in economic policy that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to do. She talked with Kai Ryssdal.

The housing news out today was especialy bleak. Sales of existing homes fell for the sixth-straight month to the lowest point in five years. Kai Ryssdal has more.

Miami-based homebuilder Lennar suffered it's biggest lost in the company's 52-year history, causing it to cut 35 percent of its jobs. Jeremy Hobson reports more are on the way.

Yasuo Fukuda started today as Japan's new prime minister, and he's already got a lot of economic baggage to carry. Scott Tong reports what's on the leader's to-do list.

Deutsche Bank is one of the latest casualties of the subprime crisis. It's reportedly lost $2.4 billion in profits. Stephen Beard says this isn't the first German bank to suffer.

The Fed rate cut may have been good news for Wall Street, but commentator Allan Sloan says with the fall of the dollar and the rise of long-term interest rates, things are still looking down.