Q: What’s a good way for a new investor to evaluate a recent mutual fund purchase, such as Vanguard’s Wellesley Income Fund?

The Senate on Wednesday approved a wide-ranging bill that would push back the deadline to file for extended unemployment insurance until year-end and extends dozens of expired tax breaks.

Calling Moshe Milevsky’s views on personal finances unconventional is an understatement. Who else but this York University business …

Stocks posted modest gains Wednesday, with the Nasdaq ending at its highest level in more than 18 months, as investors weighed falling oil prices against strength in the financial services sector and an upbeat report on wholesale inventories.

The number of states reporting increased unemployment declined in January, with the majority reporting a net increase in jobs, according to figures released today by the Labor Department.

Greeks are bracing for a long and deep recession ahead as it begins to dawn on them that the cost of fixing the country’s public finances will entail years of economic hardship and high unemployment. In recent public opinion polls, but also in the media, the business community, and even in ordinary dinner conversation, the feeling is that it will take several years for the Greece to emerge from its economic crisis…

See the full interactive graphic. Thirty states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment rate increases in January from a month earlier, while states registered rate decreases, the Labor Department said. But in a sign the job market is inching toward recovery 31 states added jobs in the first month of the year. In January, the overall U.S. unemployment rate fell to 9.7% from 10% a month earlier, while the nation’s economy shed 26,000 jobs. The …

A roundup of economic news from around the Web. Fed Seats: Mark Thoma asks why so many Fed seats are unfilled. ” For whatever reason, the administration has not taken full advantage of its chance to shape monetary policy during the downturn. The number of open positions is a large fraction of the Federal Reserve Board, and it skews the balance of power on the Federal Open Market Committee (where monetary policy is decided) toward the regional banks. Many of the regional bank presidents are inflation hawks, more so than the Governors, so this may have affected the Fed’s policy choices. By filling the open…

Lots of people, especially those trying to battle high utility bills, believe in energy-efficient homebuilding.

The economy generated jobs at a noticeably faster pace in January, the government said Tuesday in a further sign that the labor …