GDP

President Barack Obama said Monday he is continuing to direct Hurricane Irene recovery and rebuilding efforts, as federal, state, and local officials assess damage in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, even as Northeast states like Vermont and New Jersey continue to get people out of harm's way of rising flood waters.

Hurricane Irene's rampage through 10 states caused an estimated $7 billion to $13 billion in damage from violent winds and flooding, and left almost 6 million homes and businesses without power.

Hurricane Irene shut down the neon lights on Broadway, and substantially reduced commercial activity over the weekend -- including canceling thousands of flights, but the storm's economic damage will likely be far less than originally predicted. In particular, New Yorkers, for the most part, feel like they were spared.

Roger Pielke, a University of Colorado professor and fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, warned that Irene is “probably going to be very damaging.”

In his Jackson Hole, Wyo. conference speech, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said, in so many words, that headwinds -- some organic, some Capitol Hill-ish -- confronting the U.S. economy are strong, but the Fed is stronger.

Gold rose Friday nearly 2 percent after the head of the U.S. central bank, in a closely analyzed speech, declined to signal more money printing as a way energize the moribund U.S. economy.

South Africa's rand advanced to a one-week high against the dollar, breaking through resistance at 7.15, supported by a rise in U.S. stocks.

On the grounds of the Bodyworks weight loss campus in Beijing, 30 tubby men and women sweat profusely, gasping for air as they pound the treadmills in an exercise room.

The struggling U.S. economy expanded even more slowly than previously thought in the second quarter of 2011, but a breakdown of the growth suggested a new recession could be avoided.

The U.S. economy grew at a worse-than-expected 1.0 percent rate in the second quarter, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Friday, in its second estimate for the quarter, as lower export growth and a slowdown in inventory build-up braked the world's largest economy to near-stall speed.

The economy grew much slower than previously thought in the second quarter as business inventories and exports were less robust, a government report showed on Friday, although consumer spending was revised up.

Irene would truly have to be a catastrophic event to fall into the following list of the costliest natural disasters in recorded history.

Stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open for equities Friday after declines in the previous session, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 all up 0.2 percent.

Texas Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry was endorsed Thursday by Kinky Friedman, who garnered media buzz when he ran as an independent against Perry in 2006.

UBS cut its 2011 and 2012 growth forecasts for China on Thursday to reflect weaker growth prospects in developed economies, saying the central bank may relax policy if the world's second-largest economy falters.

The German DAX dropped 4 percent in about 15 minutes in Friday afternoon trading, on a rumor that the German Government's credit rating will be downgraded.

If U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke needs any more evidence regarding the slowdown in the U.S. economic recovery, he need look no further than U.S. housing prices, which have fallen for 17 consecutive quarters

The much-maligned U.S. debt deal is not inconsequential, according to latest budget deficit and economic analysis report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) -- it slices next year's deficit to $973 billion from $1.28 trillion this year, and it will also lower interest rates.

Here are a few maps that explain the Aug. 23, 2011 earthquake in Virginia, its locations, shocks that were felt across eastern U.S., damages it caused and more.

The Group of 20 leading and emerging nations has not done enough to correct global imbalances, and this could provoke more financial instability, a top Bank of Canada official said Wednesday.

Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on Japan's government debt by one notch to AA3 on Wednesday, blaming large budget deficits and a buildup of debt since the 2009 global recession.