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Prices at the pump can vary widely among states, due in large part to vastly different levels of gasoline tax.

Click here to find out gasoline prices and taxes state by state.

Gene Bloch
CNN New York Managing Editor

A weed sprung up among those “green shoots” this morning. Consumer confidence declined unexpectedly in September, raising concerns about how retailers will fare this holiday season. The Conference Board’s index fell to 53.1 from a revised 54.5 in August. Economists were looking for a reading of 57. "Consumers remain quite apprehensive about the short-term outlook and their incomes," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "With the holiday season quickly approaching, this is not very encouraging news."

The news on housing this morning is more encouraging. For a third straight month, home prices increased in July, according to the S&P Case-Shiller index. That measure of prices in 20 cities rose 1.6 percent in July from the previous month. Prices are down 13.3 percent year-over-year, but that was a smaller decline than expected.

Stock prices are slightly lower in the early going today – one year ago today the Dow Industrial Average suffered its worst point-decline in history, down nearly 778 points, as the financial crisis deepened.

How safe is your money in the bank? Bank accounts are insured up to $250,000 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, but after nearly 100 bank failures this year alone, the FDIC needs to be replenished. What the best way to do that? Refilling those coffers is the subject of a FDIC board meeting today in Washington. The Wall Street Journal reports the FDIC will propose that banks pay their fees upfront for the next three years to restock the FDIC’s insurance fund.

But with the banking industry still reeling from the financial crisis—is this the right time to hit them up for that kind of cash? Poppy Harlow reports in today’s Breakdown.

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Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says that the economy is about to start growing again, although he cautioned it will be a slow recovery with continued high unemployment in the near term.

Speaking at an annual symposium in Jackson Hole, WY, Bernanke echoed a statement made by the Fed earlier this month, saying that "economic activity appears to be leveling out, both in the United States and abroad."

Bernanke went a step further though, indicating that "prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good."

But the central bank chief warned that problems remain in financial markets around the globe, and that with banks facing "substantial" additional losses ahead, businesses and consumers will continue to have trouble accessing credit.

Home sales spike

Sales of previously-owned homes, the biggest portion of the housing market, soared more than 7% in July - the largest monthly increase in 10 years.

The National Association of Realtors says home sales rose 7.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million last month, from a pace of 4.89 million in June. That’s the fourth-straight monthly increase and the highest level of sales since August 2007.

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GM reveals its first electric car, the Chevy Volt.

Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

General Motor' says its Chevrolet Volt, the electric-drive car that's expected to go on sale in late 2010, is projected to get an estimated 230 miles per gallon in city driving.

That exceptionally-high government mileage rating could give the Volt a major boost. For the first time, car buyers will easily be able to compare electric cars with ordinary gas-powered cars.

"Having a car that gets triple-digit fuel economy can and will be a game changer for us," GM CEO Fritz Henderson said this morning at a press conference showing off the ‘Volt.’

Determining fuel economy for what is primarily an electric car is a tricky matter, and General Motors has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency for years on the issue.

Basically, you will be able to drive the Volt for about 40 miles using its lithium-ion batteries. For those driving less than that, gas mileage is essentially unlimited. It is only after 40 miles that the Volt will start using gasoline.

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Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

As the health care debate rages among lawmakers, in town hall meetings across the country and on every broadcast and cable network, CNNMoney.com has drilled down into a report that found more than half of the $2.2 trillion the United States spends on health care each year is a waste of money.

According to the most recent data from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute, there are 16 different areas in which health care dollars are squandered.

But in talking to doctors, nurses, hospital groups and patient advocacy groups, six areas totaling nearly $500 billion stood out as issues to be dealt with in the health care reform debate, including unnecessary tests, inefficient claims processing and medical errors.

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Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

In these tough times, we’re all cutting back on everything from eating out to taking a vacation. But there’s one thing that millions of us seem to be able to afford: an iPhone.

We spent $1.7 billion dollars on iPhones in just the last three months.

Apple sold 5.2 million iPhones last quarter, including the new 3GS model. That’s more than seven times the number the company sold a year ago.

Sales are so strong that Apple’s having a hard time keeping up with iPhone demand. And even though iPod sales slipped from a year ago, they still topped 10 million players.

Heath care in the spotlight

President Obama holds a prime time press conference at the White House tonight amid his continued push for health care reform legislation.

So what does health care reform mean for you? More than 160 million Americans get their health insurance through work. 14 million Americans buy health insurance on their own. And 49 million Americans have no coverage at all.

How will the health care bills moving through Congress affect these groups? Will it lower premiums? CNNMoney.com has the breakdown.

Stocks churn on Wall Street

Stocks bounced in and out of positive territory this morning as investors took a breather from the recent run-up to sort through earnings reports from the likes of Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Apple.

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Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

It’s an extremely busy day on Capitol Hill.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee this morning, delivering his semi-annual report on the economy.

Bernanke told lawmakers that the economy has started to show signs of stabilization, although he cautioned that improvement is uncertain and likely to be gradual going forward. He also said the unemployment rate would be higher than preferred levels until at least 2012, but added that steps taken by the Fed to pump money into the economy have started to pay benefits.

Some lawmakers are questioning those steps taken by Bernanke and Co. however, arguing the economy has not yet taken a turn for the better for most Americans.

And down the hall, the oversight czar tracking the $700 billion bailout told lawmakers that he's concerned officials are not doing enough to prevent tax dollars from being wasted or pilfered.

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program who is testifying before a House Oversight panel, says officials should keep better tabs on how banks are spending taxpayer dollars.

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Housing starts increased by 3.6% in June.

Gene Bloch
Managing Editor, CNN New York

All is certainly not well with the economy, but rising home construction and still-falling gas prices are welcome news for a Summer Friday.

Groundbreaking on new homes – the figure known as housing starts – surged 3.6% in June to an annual rate of 582-thousand, led by a 14% increase in single-family home construction. The gain, which was much better than expected, was led by a 14-percent increase in single-family construction. Building permits also rose more than expected, indicating a brighter performance this month. While it’s too early to declare a recovery in housing under way, the news is good.

Happy anniversary, everyone. It was one year ago today that AAA reported gas prices at $4.114 a gallon for regular unleaded, a record high.

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Gas prices dropped 1.3-cents overnight to $2.504

Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Consumer prices shot up in June by the largest amount in 11 months, reflecting the biggest jump in gasoline prices in nearly five years.

The Consumer Price Index, the Labor Department's key measure of inflation, rose 0.7% in June due mainly to higher energy and automobile prices. But the core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose a modest 0.2%.

And on a year-over-year basis, prices have fallen 1.4%. That’s the largest drop since 1950, when Harry Truman was president.

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Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Washington may be focused on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, but Wall Street is prepping for earnings from the nation’s biggest banks.

Among the financial institutions reporting this week are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup. Other big names like Johnson & Johnson, IBM, General Electric and Intel also report this week.

Traders are buzzing about Goldman Sachs in particular, which recently paid back its share of government bailout money. Analysts are predicting the bank earned a profit of more than $2 billion in the March-June period, due to its trading prowess across world markets.

If they’re right, Goldman’s rivals will once again be left to wonder exactly how the bank, long the envy of Wall Street, could have rebounded so dramatically only months after the nation’s financial industry was shaken to its core.

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