Index mutual fund investors are a cost-conscious bunch. Rather than seek out managers with a good shot at beating the market, they parse tiny differences in fund expenses. Index funds are cheaper because no one is being paid to pick stocks. Every cent that doesn't end up in someone else's pocket counts, the thinking goes.

Stocks erased gains, after an early rally among benchmark indexes, as optimism about an unexpected drop in the American unemployment rate faded and Apple Inc. shares slumped.

Mitt Romney was still celebrating his widely praised debate performance when the campaign lurched in a different direction.

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped below 8 percent for the first time since the month President Barack Obama took office, a surprising lift for both the economy and his re-election hopes in the final weeks of the campaign.

The U.S. government has a new fight in Vieques, the Puerto Rican island that was used as a Navy bombing range for decades.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said weakness in the housing market is one of the main forces creating a “disappointing” economic recovery.

Oil fell 2 percent Friday as traders fretted that jobs aren't growing fast enough in the U.S. to significantly boost demand for fuel.

Americans boosted their borrowing in August by the largest amount in three months with strong gains in the category that covers auto and student loans and in credit card debt.

A Southern California refinery that suffered a power outage that helped send gas prices soaring is back online.

Better-than-expected U.S. jobs figures that included a surprise fall in the unemployment rate to its lowest level since January 2009 shored up markets Friday.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Oil headed for a third weekly drop in New York as signals that supply is exceeding demand outweighed an unexpected decline in the unemployment rate.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Oil headed for a third weekly decline in New York before data forecast to show rising unemployment in the U.S., amid speculation supply levels are exceeding demand.

Mitsubishi Motor and Mazda have reported a plunge in China auto sales for September when tensions between Japan and China escalated into anti-Japanese riots.

America's top military officer is opposing the demotion of a four-star general who is accused of spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on lavish travel and other expenses in a case that has been sitting on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's desk for weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is shifting sharply to the political center as he begins to deliver a closing argument aimed at a slice of moderate, undecided voters a month before Election Day.

who warned Friday that Athens will run out of money at the end of November if it doesn't receive the next part of its bailout loans.

Shares of Fleetmatics jumped in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

PriceSmart Inc. said Monday that a key revenue measurement grew 10 percent in September.

AARP is reminding voters that it's not endorsing any candidates after President Barack Obama cited the group in the first presidential debate.

Southwest Airlines Co.'s traffic fell in September and a key revenue measure declined as airlines haven't been able to raise prices as often as they did last year.

When you're at Olive Garden, you're part of a modern family that may not have time for a leisurely dinner. That's the message behind a new ad campaign the Italian chain will start airing Sunday.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Geek Squad is going where no geek has gone before.

Constellation Brands' net income fell 23 percent in its fiscal second quarter, stung by higher expenses. But the wine and liquor company's earnings beat Wall Street's view, and it raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast.

Southwest Airlines Co. was left at the gate when other airline stocks rose strongly on Friday morning after the company gave a weak report on September traffic and revenue trends.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. on Friday extended its tender offer for shares of rival rental car company Dollar Thrifty until Oct. 22.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- At 21, Steve Morgan borrowed 5,000 pounds ($8,100) from his father to start a business that would become U.K. homebuilder Redrow Plc. Four decades later, he says he couldn’t repeat the feat in Britain.

Mitt Romney's Medicare plan won't try to control costs by limiting the payments that future retirees would use to buy private health insurance, aides say. Budget experts are questioning how the Republican candidate will be able to get savings without caps.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Britt Zaragoza is among a growing army of part-time workers helping to drive down the jobless rate in the U.S.

Troubled Zynga's stock is trading near its lowest level ever Friday after the online game maker behind “FarmVille” forecast a third quarter loss amid weak demand for its Web-based games. It's also taking a hefty charge related to its March acquisition of mobile game company OMGPop.

A new estimate puts the deficit for the just-completed 2012 budget year at $1.1 trillion, the fourth straight year of trillion dollar deficits on President Barack Obama's watch.

Ruckus Wireless Inc., which makes equipment for and builds big Wi-Fi networks, on Friday filed for an initial public offering worth up to $100 million.

Insurance giant American International Group Inc. said Friday it has agreed on terms of an amended four-year, $4 billion credit facility.

The Obama administration is appealing a federal appeals court ruling that overturned its regulation clamping down on power plant pollution that contributes to unhealthy air in neighboring states.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks rose, with the benchmark DAX Index heading for its fourth weekly gain in five, as investors awaited a report that may show U.S. payrolls expanded faster in September.

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a dispute between a soybean farmer and Monsanto Co. over the company's efforts to limit farmers' use of its patented, genetically engineered Roundup Ready seeds.

Sasquatch might as well have traipsed across the White House lawn Friday with a lost Warren Commission file on his way to the studio where NASA staged the moon landing.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Copper swung between gains and losses in New York before U.S. employment data is released later today.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s demand for natural gas for power generation this winter may surge at peak times, according to National Grid Plc.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- European gasoline gained amid several supply disruptions in the U.S., the continent’s main export market for the fuel.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The yen snapped a six-day decline against the euro, the longest run of losses since March, after the Bank of Japan refrained from expanding stimulus at the end of its policy meeting today.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Gold was seen falling in New York after climbing to the highest in more than 10 months and before U.S. jobs data is released today.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock futures rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index heading for the first weekly gain in three, as investors awaited a report that may show payrolls increased in September.

Japan's central bank has ended its latest policy meeting Friday with no changes in its key interest rate or asset buying program, resisting government pressure for further easing.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- India’s rupee rose for a fifth week, the longest winning streak since February, as global funds bought more of the nation’s stocks on speculation the government’s policy changes will spur economic growth.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- India’s one-year interest-rate swaps completed a fifth weekly decline on optimism the central bank will ease monetary policy to back the government’s initiatives to spur growth. Sovereign bonds fell.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian dollar fluctuated against its U.S. counterpart before government reports on September employment in Canada and the U.S.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat declined a second day after Russia’s Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fedorov signed an order to start grain sales from state stockpiles.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Spain’s government bonds rose for the first time in three days before Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy meets his French and Italian counterparts amid speculation the nation will need to seek a bailout.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. intends to keep its Opel unit, Vice Chairman Steve Girsky said after Il Sole 24 Ore reported that Fiat SpA is interested in buying the division.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan cut its benchmark interest rate for a second meeting to support a faltering economy after inflation eased to the lowest level in almost three years.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Arabica coffee may fall for a third day in New York, the longest losing streak in six weeks, after trees in top producer Brazil started to flower before the next crop and rainfall is forecast later this month. Sugar fell.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Bovespa futures advanced, a sign Brazil’s benchmark stock index may pare a weekly drop, as speculation that improved economic data in the U.S. may ease concern that growth in the world’s biggest economy will falter.

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher for a fourth day, as reports on jobless claims and factory orders were better than forecast and the European Central Bank said it stands ready to buy bonds.

The chairman of Wet Seal and three other directors have stepped down from its board, replaced by four nominees of the activist investor group unhappy with the struggling teen retailer's performance.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Gold for immediate delivery fell 0.4 percent to $1,783.50 by 1:31 p.m. in London after the unemployment rate in the U.S. unexpectedly fell.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian employment rose more than five times faster than economists predicted in September on gains in full-time positions from retailing to construction. The jobless rate also increased as the labor force expanded.

Health providers are scrambling to notify patients in nearly two dozen states that the routine steroid injections they received for back pain in recent months may have been contaminated with a deadly fungal meningitis.

California, New York and Illinois.

Guessing who will win a Nobel Prize is a bit like forecasting the stock market: Experts don't seem to do it any better than laymen.

Beauty products seller Avon Products said Friday that its chairman and former CEO Andrea Jung will step down at the end of the year, ending her 18-year tenure at the company.

Just a few weeks ago, rangers and militiamen were engaging in gunfights in Africa's oldest national park. Cannons boomed as Congolese army troops shelled rebels.

and only very rarely makes people sick.

A naturalized U.S. citizen accused of illicitly obtaining military technology for Russia may learn if he will be allowed out of jail before trial.

A deadly meningitis outbreak rose to 47 cases in seven states Friday, as clinics scrambled to notify patients across the country that the shots they got for back pain may have been contaminated with a fungus.

September's lower unemployment rate breaks the 8 percent psychological and political barrier that has stubbornly dogged Barack Obama through his presidency, halting the kind of stagnant high joblessness that has weighed down past presidents seeking re-election in economically troubled times.