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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.

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — If you needed any more proof that the economy is slowing down, look no further than how well McDonald’s stock is doing.

Shares of Mickey D’s are up 18% this year, putting the company neck and neck with DuPont (DD, Fortune 500) as the best-performing company in the Dow Jones industrial average. The stock is near a 52-week high, having gained nearly 6% just this month.

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McDonald’s (MCD, Fortune 500) is your classic consumer staples company that typically holds up better than sexier growth stocks during times of economic weakness.

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NEW YORK — The Empire State Building’s owner lost his bid to stop a new skyscraper from rising in the neighborhood when the New York City Council approved zoning and land use changes Wednesday that pave the way for the 1,190-foot tower.

The project, called 15 Penn Plaza, is still in the planning stages. Developer Vornado Realty Trust has not set a date for its construction and has yet to sign a major commercial tenant.

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — You could be contributing to a retirement plan without even knowing it.

That’s because an increasing number of companies are offering “opt-out” 401(k) plans that encourage more workers to save

The percentage of employers that offer automatic 401(k) enrollment has increased dramatically to 38%, according to financial services company Charles Schwab (SCHW, Fortune 500). That’s more than seven times the rate in 2005, when automatic enrollment was at 5%.

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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.

Full Story at msnbc.com

LONDON — BP is in talks to sell up to $12 billion of assets, including its big stake in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in North America, The Sunday Times of London reported.

A sale would be the latest of several steps the beleaguered oil giant is taking to raise money to pay for damages from the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Times said.

Full Story at money.cnn.com

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — With one week down and one week to go on negotiations melding the two Wall Street reform bills, lawmakers have a lot of tough decisions ahead.

House and Senate negotiators had set a goal to finish work on reconciling the bills – aimed at preventing the next financial crisis – before President Obama heads to Canada on Friday for two major summits of world leaders.

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NEW YORK – Here’s something for investors beaten down by the market’s sharp declines this spring: The Dow Jones industrial average just had its best two weeks since November.

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WASHINGTON – Long-term investors in some small businesses would escape capital gains taxes under a bill passed by the House Tuesday as congressional Democrats tried to revive their jobs agenda.

The bill would also increase tax deductions for startup expenses by new small businesses. The House passed the bill on a mostly party-line vote of 247 to 170.

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The federal government could have pressed the private sector to help rescue AIG when the company was on the verge of collapse in September 2008, a government watchdog has found. Instead, it let Wall Street off easy.

The government’s $182 billion bailout of the global insurer has left taxpayers holding the bag, while ensuring that all of AIG’s creditors and business partners are paid in full, said a Congressional Oversight Panel report released Thursday.

Full Story at msnbc.com

NEW YORK – The stock market had another late-day slide, this time because of fears that the Gulf oil spill will threaten BP’s dividend and perhaps land the company in bankruptcy court.

The Dow Jones industrials, up about 125 points late Wednesday morning, closed down 41. Most selling came in the last hour, the third time in four days that stocks had a late-day drop.

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NEW YORK – Traders gave in to another case of last-hour anxiety Monday and drove stocks to their lowest level in seven months.

The Dow Jones industrial average, down just 42 points at 3:15 p.m., closed down 115, or 1.2 percent. That extended the Dow’s sharp drop from Friday, when it lost 323 in response to a disappointing May jobs report. Broader indexes had steeper percentage drops than the Dow on Monday