William Sluis

1. Markets close for Presidents' Day It's shutdown time Monday for the nation's financial markets, not to mention government offices and some businesses, in a pause for Presidents' Day. So...

1. Bidding on Equity Top priority goes to Monday's shareholders meeting for Equity Office Properties Trust, the Chicago real estate conglomerate controlled by tycoon Samuel Zell. On Friday, Zell and...

1. Fed pause likely A two-day meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers, ending Wednesday, tops the agenda. After 17 rate hikes, members of the central bank stopped tightening the money spigot...

1. Oil barreling out? The week's top topic will be whether the price of oil falls below $50 a barrel--and stays there. If so, the price of a gallon of...

1. King observance to close markets It's shutdown time for financial markets Monday, as traders take the day off for the observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. That...

1. Market awash in private equity It's the year's final week of trading on Wall Street, and investors look for an upbeat finish to close out 2006. Helping to push...

A bigger-than-expected slump in housing and a domestic auto industry bumping along have some economists grumping that the holiday shopping season will deliver a lump of coal. As consumers haul...

JOBS, PAY WORRIES The idea that the economy is not too hot, not too cold is widely prevalent. About the only clear-cut areas of disappointment have been the domestic auto...

A slowdown in the nation's overheated housing market has some analysts predicting home construction is dropping into a bottomless chasm. But things may not be so bleak. For one thing,...

Record highs for the Dow Jones industrial average, the first in a half-dozen years, created an updraft that carried numerous stocks higher. Among the week's winners, Boeing Co.'s stock reached...