The Federal Reserve’s new snapshot of business conditions nationwide, released Wednesday, suggested the economy was sinking deeper into recession.

Sweden’s Industry Minister Maud Olofsson says the government is ready to support U.S.-owned automakers Saab and Volvo but doesn’t want to take over the troubled brands.

Worker productivity slowed in the summer to the smallest advance since late last year while wage pressures increased. Neither development is expected to raise inflation alarms at the Federal Reserve.

Blockbuster Inc. will begin selling concert tickets at about 500 of its video rental stores, bolstering its effort to create a one-stop shop for entertainment.

At DealTaker, we’ve definitely seen an increase in the number of stores participating in such sales. At the time of this writing there are more than 120 stores that have chosen to target Monday as a moneymaker as they try to extend Black Friday profits into December.

The USDA is warning people about a chicken products recall, involving certain types of John Soules Foods, Inc.

Oil prices rose sharply Wednesday as a large interest rate cut in China and news of a possible Russian output cut appeared to counter another round of dour economic news and larger-than-expected crude stockpiles in the U.S.

Title insurer LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. is filing for bankruptcy protection.

As the financial crisis was gaining force, Americans cut back on their spending in October by the largest amount since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The CPSC and J.C. Penney is recalling about 24,000 pairs of newborn and infant denim pants.