Your customized headlines for Wed, Mar 14, 2012

The Federal Reserve said 15 of the 19 largest U.S. banks would remain healthy in a severe crisis, demonstrating the scope of the recovery of the nation's financial system since it nearly collapsed in 2008.

Americans might complain about higher gasoline prices, but new government data show that hasn't stopped them from driving to the mall.

Retail sales jumped 1.1 percent in February, the biggest monthly increase since last fall, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Consumers went shopping for new cars, clothes, electronics and sporting goods despite spending 3.3 percent more at gas stations. The results boosted estimates of how fast the economy is growing, particularly on the heels of data showing a strengthening job market.

The Federal Reserve stood pat on Tuesday, saying in a relatively upbeat statement that the job market has been more vibrant recently but that the economy is still likely to improve only gradually.

The Fed did not take any new policy action, reaffirming its plan to keep interest rates extraordinary low through at least late 2014.

The Obama administration filed a trade complaint Tuesday asking China to loosen its restrictions on exports of rare-earth minerals, risking new economic tensions with the country over a potentially potent election-year issue.

In February 2008, as the mortgage meltdown was creating a crisis at Thornburg Mortgage, the chief executive of the big lender wrote an e-mail explaining how he hoped to keep the trouble under wraps, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

The Obama administration filed a trade complaint Tuesday asking China to loosen its restrictions on exports of rare-earth minerals, risking new economic tensions with the country over a potentially potent election-year issue.

— Every Murakami novel ever, in one chart.

— How to determine whether a lab mouse is depressed or not.

— Greece is getting an upgrade rather than a downgrade for a change.

— A bad trailer can doom a movie (it happened to "John Carter," apparently).

Mississippi got a lot of attention last year for its voter referendum on a "personhood amendment." That measure would have declared life as beginning at fertilization, effectively outlawing abortion in the process. The voter referendum failed by a large margin. So now, Mississippi legislators are moving forward on another plan to end abortion in the state.

Americans have increasingly turned against the idea of "government regulation" since the beginning of the Obama administration. According to the latest Pew Research Center survey, 52 percent of Americans believe that government regulation of business usually does more harm than good, while just 40 percent believe it's "necessary to protect the public interest"—the complete reverse of public opinion at the height of the financial crisis.