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NEW YORK — The stock market ended its worst August since 2001 with meager gains Tuesday after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed officials’ increasing concern about the economy.

Stock indexes gave up most of their gains in mid-afternoon after the release of minutes from the Fed’s Aug. 10 meeting. Fed officials said during their discussions that they recognized that the economy might need further stimulus beyond the purchases of government debt the central bank announced that day. Some of the officials acknowledged that economy had softened more than they had anticipated.

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MINNEAPOLIS – The Justice Department said Friday that it has no more antitrust concerns about the deal that would combine United and Continental into the world’s largest airline.

To win that approval, the airlines had to open the door to Southwest Airlines at Continental’s hub in Newark, N.J., where it is the dominant carrier. The Justice Department said leasing takeoff and landing permission to Southwest in Newark cleared up its main competitive concern.

Shareholders at Continental Airlines Inc. and United parent UAL Corp. are set to vote on the deal on Sept. 17, and the Transportation Department has to approve it. The airlines now expect the deal to close by Oct. 1.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — More children are crowding into classrooms in Modesto, Calif. Parents are paying extra to send their kids to full-day kindergarten in Queen Creek, Ariz. And the school buses stopped rolling in one St. Louis area school district.

These are but a few of the unwelcome changes greeting children as they start the school year. Tight fiscal times are forcing school districts to lay off teachers, enlarge class sizes, cut programs and charge for services that were once free.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors is recalling a total of 243,403 of its popular large crossover SUVs for a problem that could damage the rear seatbelt buckles. Most of the recalled vehicles are in the United States.

In some of the vehicles, the seatbelt buckle can be damaged when the second row seat is returned to its normal position after being folded down.

If this happens the seatbelt may not latch completely even when it seems to be securely buckled. The seat belt also may not latch or unlatch or may seem to be jammed, GM said.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Stocks ended lower Friday, the fourth consecutive day of declines, as investors digested dour economic reports in the retail and consumer sectors.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 17 points, or 0.2%, to end at 10,303.15. The S&P 500 (SPX) lost 4 points, or 0.4%, to settle at 1,079.25 and the Nasdaq (COMP) fell 17 points, or 0.8% to close at 2,173.48.

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FORTUNE — Consumers drive more than two-thirds of the nation’s economy, and with growth hard to spot these days, it’s easy to place the blame on stingy spenders. But that’s a mistake.

Personal spending, in fact, has kept pace with the economy, accounting for a steady 70% of GDP before the recession, during the depths of the crisis, and into today’s slow recovery. In fact, consumption relative to GDP rose slightly to 71% during the last two quarters of 2009 amid huge government spending programs — such as the promotion of home and car sales — to stimulate the economy. It has flattened out since.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — First it was Greenspan. Now one by one, other elders of the economy are speaking out against deficits, and they’re making the surprising argument for higher taxes.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was first and has taken the most extreme position, arguing that all of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 should be allowed to expire.

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WASHINGTON — The Postal Service was $3.5 billion in the red for the third quarter and may not be able to make a required payment for future retiree health benefits, the agency said Thursday.

Losses for the April through June quarter were $1.1 billion more than the post office lost in the same period a year ago.

The post office has been rocked by declining mail volume as people and businesses continue switching to the Internet in place of letters and paper bills.

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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made a case Wednesday for letting tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans lapse as a step toward getting the nation’s fiscal house in order.

“Borrowing to finance tax cuts for the top 2% would be a $700 billion fiscal mistake,” Geithner said before the Center for American Progress in Washington, alongside deficit hawk Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum. “It’s not the prescription the economy needs right now, and the country can’t afford it.”

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The housing bust has made owning a home a lot more affordable — but in some places, prices are extraordinary; you can buy a nice condo for less than the cost of a new family car.

Some cities have dozens of attractive condominium listings selling for $50,000 or $25,000. There are some selling for less than a new Toyota Corolla. And these are not derelict hovels in crime-ridden communities: These homes are often in move-in condition and located in nice neighborhoods.

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LONDON — Send an e-mail to a fund manager at the moment and the chances are high you will get a bounced reply telling you that he/she is out of the office.

The week ahead marks the start of August, a period that can be — but is by no means always — one of reduced investing and low tolerance for anything other than major market-moving events.

So although the week promises important earnings reports from key European banks, a couple of key central bank meetings and one of the biggest U.S. economic data releases — jobs — trading on financial markets may be limited.

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Saturday accused Republicans of holding American small businesses “hostage to politics” after Republican senators refused to back a $30 billion small-business lending package.

Senate Republicans blocked the package on Thursday, dealing a fresh blow to Obama’s efforts to show Americans, in the midst of a tough election year, that his administration is focused on tackling stubbornly high unemployment.