Feb 28, 7:47 AM (ET) By ROBERT BURNS

WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is using her second overseas trip as the nation’s top diplomat to assess peace prospects in the Middle East, reconnect with European allies and remind her Russian counterpart that U.S. efforts to rebuild relations with Moscow has its limits.

The former first lady and former U.S. senator from New York is kicking off a weeklong journey by attending an international conference in Egypt where she will announce on Monday a U.S. government pledge of up to $900 million in humanitarian assistance for the rebuilding of the war-shaken Gaza Strip.

Feb 27, 12:24 PM (ET) By TIM PARADIS

NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks are mostly lower as investors second-guess Citigroup Inc. (C)’s plans to turn over a big piece of itself to the government.

Citi shares are down 30 percent as investors calculate how much their holdings will be diluted by the plan. Other banks are also lower amid concerns about the health of the rest of the financial industry.

But traders are largely shrugging off news that the economy shrank at a much faster pace than expected at the end of last year.

Feb 27, 7:18 AM (ET) By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

WASHINGTON (AP) – The administration insists it isn’t so, but some private economists are wondering if the Obama administration has brought “Rosy Scenario” back to town.

In unveiling his budget, President Barack Obama pledged to bring “honesty and fairness” back to the budget process by getting rid of the gimmicks past administrations had used to hide the real costs of government programs and proposed tax cuts.

But many economists who examined the economic assumptions that undergird the spending plan believe that Obama may have resorted to one of the oldest gimmicks around – relying on overly optimistic economic assumptions to make it look like you are dealing with soaring budget deficits when in reality you are only closing the gap on paper.

Feb 26, 7:47 PM (ET) By ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama charted a dramatic new course for the nation Thursday with a bold but contentious budget proposing higher taxes for the wealthy and the first steps toward guaranteed health care for all – accompanied by an astonishing $1.75 trillion federal deficit that would be nearly four times the highest in history.

Denouncing what he called the “dishonest accounting” of recent federal budgets, Obama unveiled his own $3.6 trillion blueprint for next year, a bold proposal that would transfer wealth from rich taxpayers to the middle class and the poor.

Feb 25, 7:09 AM (ET) By TIM PARADIS

NEW YORK (AP) – A trade group report today on sales of existing homes is expected to show selling increased slightly in January. The increase would mark the second straight month of improvement from November’s record low.

Sales are expected to rise to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million units, from 4.74 million a month earlier, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The National Association of Realtors’ report is due at 10 a.m. EST.

Feb 24, 4:37 PM (ET) By MADLEN READ and TIM PARADIS

NEW YORK (AP) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has given Wall Street a double dose of reassurance. Now it’s President Barack Obama’s turn. Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday the recession might end this year, and that regulators aren’t planning to nationalize banks.

The news alleviated some of investors’ worries about the economy and the banking industry, and lifted the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index off their lowest levels since 1997.

And investors are hopeful that Tuesday night, President Barack Obama will provide specifics about how he plans to stabilize the financial system and further stimulate the economy. Anticipation of his remarks helped drive beaten-down financial shares up sharply.

Feb 23, 4:43 PM (ET) By TIM PARADIS

NEW YORK (AP) – Wall Street has turned the clock back to 1997. Investors unable to extinguish their worries about a recession that has no end in sight dumped stocks again Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 251 points to its lowest close since Oct. 28, 1997, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index logged its lowest finish since April 11, 1997.

All the major indexes slid more than 3 percent. The Dow is just over 100 points from 7,000.

“People left and right are throwing in the towel,” said Keith Springer, president of Capital Financial Advisory Services.

Feb 23, 12:03 PM (ET) By PHILIP ELLIOTT

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama promised quick help for strapped Medicaid programs Monday as he brought in advisers and adversaries to discuss keeping entitlement programs from exploding the federal deficit.

Obama’s summit at the White House, which was coming at close of a three-day meeting of the nation’s governors, was the first such forum of his young presidency designed specifically to get at problems threatening the long-term fiscal health of the nation. It came as Obama gets ready to disclose ambitious plans to slash the federal deficit in half within four years.

Even before it began, some of its 130 invited White House conference participants cautioned against overinflated expectations.