high anxiety

With little relief in sight, people are getting more anxious about the slumping economy and how it affects them.

The share of people who believe the country is moving in the right direction has plunged in just a few weeks, from 28 percent in September to 15 percent in October, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll of likely voters that was released Monday.

Tension on Wall Street won't subside this week as the deepening credit crunch pushes the global economy into recession, and corporate profits increasingly become an afterthought.

As the government sends out roughly $100 billion in economic stimulus checks to about 130 million American homes, retailers are trying to persuade consumers to spend their windfall at a time of high anxiety about the economy.