Retirement Trends

Stocks opened lower on Wall Street Friday, with the Dow pulling back from close to a record, as automatic government spending cuts are about to kick in.

The stock market on Thursday plodded rather than soared, flicking between small ups and downs after two days of triple-digit gains.

Only 49 percent of the non-retired say they are saving enough in retirement to achieve a desirable standard of living.

Tennessee's treasurer said Monday that he wants to overhaul the state's public retirement system to cut costs and ensure it can pay out benefits for years to come.

JPMorgan is trimming about 4,000 jobs, or about 1.5 percent of its work force, becoming the latest big bank to shrink its staff.

The Federal Reserve's low interest-rate policies are giving key support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment, Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday. Bernanke signaled that the Fed's efforts to keep borrowing costs low will continue.

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction with rates on three-month Treasury bills rising to the highest level in two years.

Stocks are dropping sharply as investors worry that Italy could be seized with political paralysis, stymieing the country's economic reforms and causing another flare-up in the region's debt crisis.