(Nov 23, 2007) Just in time for the busiest shopping days of the year, government and private reports this week suggested the housing slump, surging fuel costs and a slowing economy are forming a "not-so perfect storm" which threatens to curtail consumer spending.

(Nov 23, 2007) For the past three decades, America has imported more foreign goods than it exported. 2007 will be no exception and the U.S. is on pace to post a trade deficit of more than $700 billion.