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Today's Economic News

Graphic charts monthly unemployment rate for the past 13 months; 1c x 3 1/2 inches; 46.5 mm x 88.9 mmJobless claims drop from 7-year high
AP - New applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week from a seven-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, though they remain at elevated levels that indicate recession.

The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner sits on the assembly line at the company's Everett, Washington plant, May 19, 2008. (Robert Sorbo/Reuters)Factory orders drop by 4 percent in August
AP - Orders to U.S. factories plunged by the largest amount in nearly two years in August as the credit strains began to hit manufacturing with full force.

Chart shows new orders of durable goods for the past 13 months;Durable goods orders drop 4.5 percent in August
AP - Orders for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged in August by the largest amount in seven months as demand for both airplanes and autos fell sharply.

Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors gather outside the Treasury Department in Washington for a group photo, Friday, Oct. 10, 2008. From left to right in front row are: Canada's Finance Minister James Flaherty, France's Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde, Germany's Minister of Finance Peer Steinbruck, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, the U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and Eurogroup's Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker. Left to right in back row are: Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer, President of Germany's Bundesbank Axel A. Weber, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, Italy's central bank governor Mario Draghi, Japan's central bank governor Masaaki Shirakawa, Bank of England governor Mervyn King, and President of the European Central Bank Jean Claude Trichet. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Banks, Wall Street firms borrow more from Fed
AP - Banks and Wall Street firms ramped up borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending facility over the past week, a fresh sign of the credit stresses plaguing the country.

In this July 15, 2008 file photo, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, to report on the economy before the Senate Banking Committee. Tighten your seat belt. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are preparing to ride out economic and financial storms by holding their most important interest rate steady this week and probably through the rest of this year. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Fed leaves key rate unchanged
AP - The Federal Reserve kept a key interest rate unchanged Tuesday, saying that strains in financial markets have "increased significantly" but that it would keep an eye on them and act, if needed.