Commercial lender CIT Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York court on Sunday. CIT specializes in lending to small and medium-sized businesses.

The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending in September dropped precipitously. Although statistics seem to indicate the recession is over, the American public, it seems, is not convinced.

The Commerce Department says the GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent last quarter, the first positive quarterly growth in a year, and the largest quarterly advance since the third quarter of 2007. This unofficially marks the end of the worst recession in 70 years.

Is the recession over? If you look at the figures released today which focus on GDP and retail, you might say yes. If you look at unemployment numbers, you might say no.

The first country to be hit hard by the recent economic downturn, Iceland, will be loosing its' two McDonalds. Considered a microcosm for the world's financial systems, until the global credit crunch of last year it was a financial miracle with the highest GDP per capita in the world.

On Friday, federal regulators shut down Partners Bank in Florida. With that, bank closings for 2009 have reached 100.

On Monday, the U.S. federal government launched a new program aimed at helping to stabilize the U.S. housing market. The program will use government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide temporary financing for housing finance agencies.

Someone watching old shows from the 1950's might recall the term "layaway," but it's not a term that's been used much lately. Popular during the Great Depression, Toys R Us announced on Monday they would begin offering the same type of layaway program, for big-ticket items, in time for the holidays.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reported third quarter earnings today. While ordinary Americans are still saddled with fallout from the recession, results from Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions are "gold."

It's not as good as a job, but those who were on the brink of running out of unemployment benefits can breathe a little easier now. The Senate on Thursday reached a deal that will extend jobless benefits, yet again.

The number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell by an unexpectedly large amount, in weekly numbers released by the Labor Department on Thursday. With that, the numbers fell to the lowest level since early January.

As we've previously covered at HULIQ, mortgage rates are approaching all-time lows. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, an industry group, this has fueled huge demand in terms of mortage applications.