As officials ordered the evacuation of New Orleans, the oil industry shut down rigs and pulled back personnel as Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf coast on Sunday.

Gas prices zoomed higher in states along the Gulf of Mexico as workers on offshore oil rigs abandon ship ahead of Hurricane Gustav which became a category 3 storm on Saturday.

State regulators shuttered a Georgia bank late Friday, marking the tenth bank failure this year.

Gas prices jumped overnight - and are expected to keep rising - in states along the Gulf of Mexico as offshore oil rigs prepare to abandon ship ahead of Tropical Storm Gustav on Friday.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to 4,000 drilling platforms and 33,000 miles of pipeline, which send 1.3 million barrels a day to the Gulf Coast's 56 refineries. But a hurricane threatens to deal a powerful blow to the oil-rich region.

The government sent out an additional 2.4 million stimulus payments, totaling $1.5 billion, since July 11, according to a statement from the Treasury department.

Surprise! It appears that the death of the American consumer, just like Steve Jobs, has been greatly exaggerated.

Personal income fell in July by the biggest drop in 3 years after surging the prior two months because of $90 billion in economic stimulus payments.

It's a perfectly natural reaction: You lose your job and, in a panic, you immediately start calling and e-mailing your network and answering Internet job ads. The trouble is that, understandable as that course of action is, it's unlikely to get you where you want to go. Instead, take a deep breath, slow down, and chill. Then, make a plan.

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Gasoline prices rose for the first time in more than a month, according to a nationwide survey of gas station credit card swipes Friday.

The number of out-of-work Americans who signed up for jobless benefits fell for the third week in a row, matching economists' expectations.

With Tropical Storm Gustav setting its sights on the Gulf of Mexico, oil facilities in the region are facing their first major threat since 2005, when Hurricanes Rita and Katrina knocked out nearly every barrel of oil production and sent prices soaring to then-record levels.

The government's latest assessment of the nation's financial system showed that many more small banks are in trouble. But what the report didn't say may speak volumes.

A revised reading on gross domestic product announced Thursday showed much better U.S. economic growth than previously reported for the second quarter.

Stock futures pointed to a strong open on Thursday after the government reported that the second-quarter GDP surged to a surprising annual rate of 3.3%.

Despite all the talk about the U.S. economy falling on hard times this year, experts are predicting that the economy grew at a more solid pace during the second quarter.

Gas prices continued their slide, falling 11% from highs reached in July, according to a national survey of gas station credit card swipes released Thursday.

More banks are in trouble than just three months ago according to the FDIC.

For most of the past decade, the economy grew much stronger - but middle-class Americans had little to show for it.