CHICAGO (AP) -- A new kind of gold rush is unfolding at jewelry store and pawn shop counters -- featuring not prospectors, but consumers.

White-collar workers, retirees and many others have been digging through jewelry boxes and safety deposit boxes to cash in as gold prices flirt with $1,000 an ounce. Coins, old wedding rings, necklaces given by ex-boyfriends, hand-me-down gold pieces -- everything is fair game when it brings this kind of profit.

Shop owners across the country are marveling about the phenomenon they say began in the latter part of 2007 and accelerated through the winter, reflecting torrid gold demand like none had ever seen. There are even gold parties, where people gather to sell their jewelry.

"Everybody's trying to sell," said Richard Rozhko, owner of a jewelry store on the northern edge of Chicago. "People are trying to cash out because they don't believe that gold's going to go higher than $1,000 or $1,200" an ounce.

Rachel Weingarten, a New Yorker with a self-described obsession with "shiny trinkets," didn't need to sell but couldn't resist the chance when she saw prices soar like an overinflated tech stock.

"When I saw the prices going through the roof, I saw it as an amazing opportunity to rid myself of jewelry that no longer suits my taste or status," said Weingarten, a marketing consultant. "It's also been a lot of

Four ways to make sure your best intentions aren't thwarted by the temptation to spend money now.

When it comes to saving, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. A recent TD Ameritrade survey shows that 40% of people who make New Year's resolutions cite saving more money as a goal. However, the same poll also found that nearly half of those who resolve to stash away more bucks abandon that plan within a month.

And that's a problem because saving is the single most important thing you must do to have a shot at a comfortable retirement.

That disconnect isn't surprising. "While some parts of our brains are geared for rational decision-making, others are hard-wired for immediate gratification," says Harvard University behavioral economist Brigitte Madrian.

The result is a sort of ongoing war inside your mind, with the rational part nagging you to save and the gratification side spurring you to buy a new car. When you consider that you can drive the car today but don't get to spend your retirement savings for decades, well, you can see what has the edge.

There are ways, however, to improve the rational side's odds of winning. Adopting one or more of these

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc.'s long-anticipated acquisition of online ad service DoubleClick Inc. is expected to turn the Internet search leader into an even more powerful marketing vehicle that's fueled by better insights about consumers.

The $3.1 billion deal, completed Tuesday after nearly a year of regulatory wrangling, also may intensify the pressure on Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. to resolve their stormy courtship so they don't risk further distractions while Google tries to sprint further ahead in the race for Internet advertising.

Google took control of DoubleClick a few hours after Europe's antitrust regulators removed the final stumbling block by approving a deal that was first announced 11 months ago.

U.S. regulators cleared the transaction in December, casting aside objections from Microsoft and other companies that argued DoubleClick would give Google too much control over online advertising and potentially sensitive information about consumer behavior on the Internet.

Besides opening up new opportunities, Google's takeover of DoubleClick will create more challenges for a management team already grappling with concerns about how the slowing U.S. economy will affect the

NEW YORK (AP) -- The cost of filling up the family car climbed to a record high Tuesday, adding to the challenges consumers already face with falling home values and rising food prices.

Gas prices at the pump rose overnight to a record national average of $3.2272 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's a tad higher than the previous record of $3.2265, set last May.

Soaring gas prices worsen the financial plight of consumers already suffering through a downturn in the housing market that has sharply reduced home prices in many markets and limited Americans' ability to tap home equity for spending. Food prices are also on the rise, partly due to rising fuel costs.

"I used to think three bucks a gallon was all I'd pay, but I keep filling up," said Joe Gowans while gassing his Acura SUV in San Francisco one recent afternoon. "You have to use it."

A year ago, rising demand and a string of refinery outages had raised concerns about supplies. Now, the record price of crude oil is the culprit, propelling gas higher although supplies are at 15-year highs.

On Tuesday, light sweet crude for April delivery surged to a new trading record of $109.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange before retreating after the Energy Department and International Energy

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Staring at spreading financial dangers, the Federal Reserve announced a rescue package Tuesday that would pour as much as $200 billion into banks and investment houses and allow them to put up risky home-loan packages as collateral.

Wall Street rebounded with its biggest rally since 2002 -- and hoped the Fed had even more cards to play.

The Federal Reserve's maneuver, coordinated with central banks overseas, was its latest effort to stem the global credit crisis and severe housing woes that threaten to bury the United States in its first recession since 2001. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have been stretching for new and imaginative ways to confront the situation.

They are hoping to bring relief where it is sorely needed: in the market for mortgage securities. Home loan financing has become much harder to get as nervous lenders have hunkered down.

"It is a highly significant move. The Fed is innovating in a way that is going to push liquidity directly into the mortgage markets, where it is most needed," said David Jones, president of DJM Advisors.

On Wall Street, the Fed's action propelled stocks upward. The Dow Jones industrials jumped 416.66 points