Facing congressional criticism that speculators are driving up oil prices, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday announced that it has charged the Dutch company Optiver Holding BV and its American subsidiary with manipulating the trading of contracts for future delivery of oil and gasoline.

"Today's action lets the marketplace know that the (CFTC's) Division of Enforcement has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to gamesmanship," Stephen Obie, the agency's new acting head of enforcement, said at a news conference announcing the market manipulation charges. » read more

In the middle of the night, the diesel rumble of Steve Mozingo and Brandon Taylor's trucks prompts excuses for why the car payment is past due and driveway pleas for more time.

As many as 1.6 million cars and trucks may be repossessed nationally this year, the most in at least a decade, according to the Manheim wholesale vehicle auction service, which touts itself as the country's largest. Large banks have yet to report a large increase in car loan defaults, but the anecdotal evidence is growing among smaller lenders and repossession companies such as Mozingo and Taylor's employer. » read more

WASHINGTON — More than 2 million low-wage workers will get a small raise on Thursday when the federal minimum wage jumps 12 percent, from $5.85 to $6.55 an hour.

While most Americans have traditionally supported minimum wage increases, the new rate hike comes at a bad time for businesses, particularly small businesses, struggling through the economic downturn. » read more

More than 17,000 Valley homes have been lost to foreclosure during the past year, data released Tuesday show.

In Merced, 1,223 homes were foreclosed this spring, pushing its one-year total to 3,174. That means 1 in 20.5 Merced homes was lost. » read more

WASHINGTON — Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, echoing his message from a weeks-long advertising blitz, urged Congress on Tuesday to embrace a largely untapped potential of wind power to help free the United States from its dependence on foreign oil.

Pickens, ranked by Forbes as the 117th richest man in America, has amassed a $3 billion fortune as one of the nation’s most successful oilmen. But the 80-year-old entrepreneur is now urging Americans to quickly shift to other forms of energy to escape what he called a national security crisis over the nation’s "addiction" to foreign oil. » read more