The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said Thursday she is optimistic the agency will be able to obtain money from the $700 billion bailout fund to launch its proposed home-loan modification program quickly.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Friday unveiled a plan to prevent about 1.5 million foreclosures by promising to share any losses with mortgage companies that agree to refinance certain home loans.

The US government and mortgage industry are launching the most sweeping effort yet to help troubled homeowners by speeding up the process for renegotiating hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Daniel Tishman, Tishman Construction chairman and CEO, shared his outlook for the industry on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning.

Oil and gas companies are retrofitting drilling rigs with pollution controls and taking other steps in an effort to avoid violating federal air pollution standards in southwest Wyoming this coming winter.

Hurricane Kyle weakened to a post-tropical storm as it swept across eastern Canada, but high winds and heavy rains continued to buffet Nova Scotia and New Brunswick early Monday.

Gasoline prices rose Saturday by an average of five cents a gallon across the country as the oil industry anticipated disruptions at several refineries along the Texas coast because of Hurricane Ike.

Gasoline prices jumped to unprecedented levels in the wholesale markets Thursday as Hurricane Ike tore across the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to strike Texas and its refineries.

Oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico continued to recover slowly in the wake of Hurricane Gustav on Friday as a second fierce storm threatened to enter the energy-rich region next week.

Although attention is focused on the petroleum industry as Hurricane Gustav takes aim at the Gulf Coast, billions of dollars are at stake in other economic sectors: New Orleans' trademark tourism industry, the shipping business, sugar harvesting -- and even such niche products as red-hot Tabasco sauce.

Gustav weakened to a Category 1 hurricane as it approached the Louisiana cities of New Iberia and Lafayette with maximum wind speeds of 90 mph.

Oil prices tumbled to $111 a barrel Monday as Hurricane Gustav weakened along the Gulf Coast and posed less of a threat to oil drilling and refining operations.

Hurricane Gustav's threat to the Gulf Coast halted about 15 percent of U.S. refining capacity Sunday, though for now prices at the pump have not risen dramatically

Oil companies shut down production Saturday as an intensifying Hurricane Gustav churned toward the petroleum-rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Gustav strengthened back into a hurricane in the warm Caribbean on Friday as it left flooded Jamaica and churned toward the Cayman Islands, headed for the Gulf of Mexico on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's deadly strike on New Orleans.