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July retail sales data show stimulus fading
Retailers’ July sales reports show an increasing shift toward buying necessities at discounters and away from nonessentials like clothing. Full story
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Jobs data, GDP stoke debate over recession
No sign yet of a bottom in home prices
Midyear earnings offer glimmer of hope
Fannie, Freddie pose new threat to housing
What you need to know about Fannie, Freddie
Job losses add to consumer worries
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  Oil & energy  
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  Oil prices fluctuate after four-day slide
Well, so much for a future of $200 oil
Candidates’ surrogates spar over drilling issue
Big Oil's biggest quarter ever: $51.5B in all
D.C. bluster, but no help for high cost of gas
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  AIG posts its third straight quarterly loss
  Toyota reports 28-percent plunge in profit
Freddie Mac posts fourth consecutive loss
Time Warner to split AOL unit in two
Procter & Gamble posts higher profit
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Furniture Brands: Some Reassembly Required
Retire Rich the Old-Fashioned Way
Make Millions From Thousands
It's Good to Be Home
Is Your Retirement In Bondage?
  Market update
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  CNBC highlights
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GM finds surprising success in China
In 2007, GM sold nearly twice as many Buicks in China as it did in the U.S. In Shanghai, your grandfather’s stodgy old car is actually hip. By CNBC’s Phil LeBeau and Wally Griffith.
Greenspan: Economy 'on the brink' of recession
At 85, Sumner Redstone is still going strong
L.A. is home to new rush of oil drilling
Cutting the cost of a $77,000 fill-up
  Motley Fool  
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Furniture Brands: Some Reassembly Required
Retire Rich the Old-Fashioned Way
Make Millions From Thousands
It's Good to Be Home
Business video
  Why we aren't seeing gas prices drop
Aug. 6: CNBC's Sharon Epperson explains why despite falling oil prices, Americans aren't seeing the same plunge at the pump.
  CNBC's Ratigan on the economy
  Why toilet paper helps decide interest rates
  Inflation hitting organic industry hard
  Economy has Americans turning to church
  More part-timers struggling with hard times
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  A Nightly News survival guide
  Devastated crops drive up food prices
June 16: As flood-damaged crops lead to even higher food prices, the American family budget is likely to feel the pinch. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
  Costly commutes create staffing struggles
  Gas prices keep RV couple parked
  Once thriving, now just surviving
  We've got mail: Tales of a thrifty holiday weekend
  Who's who on the Fed
Image: Ben Bernanke
Reuters

The Federal Open Market Committee has become more open over the years, but it is still one of the most mysterious Washington institutions. So who are the people who hold such power over your pocketbook?

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