Volunteer advisers will offer free financial advice from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today from a bus at Washington Street and Cookson Place along Burnside Park in downtown Providence. The yearlong YourMoneyBusTour is sponsored by TD Ameritrade Institutional, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors Consumer Education Foundation and Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine to help people across the nation with alarming rates of debt, negative savings and other economic concerns. The bus, which recruits local advisers at each stop, has attracted hundreds of people seeking answers. Free tool kits have information about debt reduction and saving.

FM Global opens insurance office in Mexico

FM Global, based in Johnston, has opened an insurance operations office in Monterrey, Mexico, to serve a growing number of clients in the region and to enhance the availability of its products and services. The company will conduct business in the region as FM Global de Mexico, a new insurance subsidiary, and will provide loss- prevention services throughout Latin America from the Monterrey hub. FM Global has 57 offices serving companies in more than 130 countries. "The opening of our Monterrey office is part of our long- term commitment to serving companies operating in the region, will increase our ability to deliver local insurance products in Mexico and will allow us to better deploy loss-prevention engineering and claims services in Latin America," said Hector Pliego, head of FM Global de Mexico.

Sports Authority to open Warwick Mall store

Sporting-goods retailer Sports Authority will open a 40,000- square-foot store in Warwick Mall next spring, according to Aram Garabedian, one of the mall's managing partners. The privately held retailer will open a store on the mall's south side, above the Target store. Both stores are taking up space once occupied by a Macy's outlet, which moved to the mall's north end in 2006. Since then, the mall's owners have reconfigured the former Macy's space, creating an access from the concourse to its second floor. Sports Authority will share the second floor with a second store, which is yet to be leased. Sports Authority operates more than 400 stores in 45 states, including one in Warwick.

Small businesses hard-hit in reeling economy

Small businesses have been among the hardest hit during the recession in Rhode Island and typically have fewer resources to cope with a prolonged economic downturn than larger companies. For example, Joe Viele, co-owner of Liberty Rental in South Kingstown, said his equipment rental business has declined because contractors and construction companies are focusing on smaller jobs.