President Obama's tax reform task force will deliver its long-overdue report on Friday offering a list of ways to improve the federal tax code.

Facebook, which has gone after sites with the word "book" in their names, is also trying to trademark the word "face," according to court documents.

USA Today announced Friday that it is laying off 9% of its workforce and shaking up its editorial structure, as it "evolves" from newspapers towards multimedia.

In another ominous sign for the economy, the number of people falling behind on their mortgages for the first time is on the rise.

The bidding war over 3PAR reached a fever pitch on Friday, as Hewlett-Packard raised its offer to $2 billion just hours after Dell matched its earlier bid.

Gadfly analyst Dick Bove rarely disappoints when he unholsters his guns. On Tuesday, the Rochdale Research VP put out a report accusing Sheila Bair, head of the FDIC, of completely misunderstanding her job. "Unlike the heads of the Federal Reserve (FRB) who have repeatedly acknowledged their failure to act before the financial crisis, the FDIC has never done so," he wrote. And he suggested that Bair, "knew what was wrong but did nothing about it." We caught up with Bove yesterday to get his dependably provocative view on Bair, Bernanke, and the state of the U.S. banks.

If you needed any more proof that the economy is slowing down, look no further than how well McDonald's stock is doing.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke bluntly acknowledged that the U.S. economic recovery has lost considerable steam, but said the central bank has the necessary policy tools to support continued growth.

The financial crisis that destroyed some of the world's biggest banks and sent others to the brink of failure have changed Americans' idea of lending and borrowing. While most still seem to have no problems storing their money at banks small and large, a few trends indicate that everyone from consumers to some of the world's largest companies are straying away from large financial institutions as sources of funding.

Energy use in the United States fell nearly 5% last year, marking the largest annual drop on record, according to an analysis of federal data by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Home improvement is one of the fastest-growing segments of e-commerce. But the consequences of a bad decision when it comes to finding a contractor or remodeling products online are far worse than buying the wrong paperback.

Intel Corp. on Friday warned investors that its third-quarter revenue will fall below its forecasts as consumer demand for personal computers slipped.

The U.S. economy sputtered to a near stop in the second quarter, according to new estimates from the government released Friday, although the slowdown wasn't as bad as many had feared.

U.S. stock futures popped Friday as investors digested a better-than-expected downward revision of second-quarter economic growth. Traders also awaited key speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the economic outlook and monetary policy.

Melissa Bean, a third-term representative from Illinois, is on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's radar, and not in a good way. Bean, a fellow Democrat who represents a wealthy swath of Chicago's northwest suburbs, crossed Pelosi back in December when she held up the financial reform bill to negotiate better terms for banks. And in May, she and other Wall Street-friendly Democrats forced the Speaker to scale back a package of tax cuts and benefits extensions for the unemployed because they objected to the measure's tax on venture capitalists.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that it is charging a Chicago couple, their real estate agent, and a real estate broker with refusing to sell a home listed for $1.799 million to a black couple because of their race, in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The charge alleges that owners Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia and real estate agent Jeffrey Lowe stalled negotiations and took the property off the market after receiving a $1.7 million offer from radio personality and comedian George Willborn and his wife, businesswoman Peytyn Willborn.

Garmin is recalling 1.25 million GPS devices, most of which were sold in America, because their batteries could overheat and cause fires, the company said Thursday.

Netflix unveiled its long-awaited app for the iPhone on Thursday, sending the company's shares almost 2% higher.

Treasurys yields fell Thursday after the government sold $29 billion in 7-year notes one day before a key report on U.S. economic growth and a highly-anticipated speech by the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Facebook is suing start-up site Teachbook.com for using the word "book" in its name, according to court documents.