Business News

WASHINGTON - Consumers put aside worries about slumping home sales and soaring gasoline prices and headed to the malls in November, pushing spending up by the largest amount in 3 1/2 years. The better-than-expected surge lessened fears of an imminent recession.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending rose at the fastest rate in more than two years in November and prices also climbed sharply, according to a government report on Friday that showed the economy on firmer ground than many had believed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers' mood brightened a bit in late December, but still soured for the month as a whole, the third straight month that it did so, leaving sentiment near its lowest since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a report showed on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. personal spending jumped a much bigger-than-expected 1.1 percent in November, the sharpest rise in more than two years, while prices rose, a Commerce Department report showed on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy this month has fallen into a recession, which should last for the next four to five months, Bill Gross, chief investment officer of the world's largest bond fund manager, told the Financial Times.

Acquisitions were the theme of the day as the FTSE Small Cap index jumped 1.7 per cent, its biggest daily gain in more than 18 months.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors have only a sprinkling of economic data on their plates in the last full week of 2007, but if the numbers come through as expected, stocks may extend Friday's early Santa Claus rally.

NEW YORK - Stocks jumped Friday following a better-than-expected rise in profits at Research in Motion Ltd. and on word that Merrill Lynch may have lined up a big cash infusion from a Singapore fund.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks jumped the most in three weeks on Friday, as strong results from the company behind the BlackBerry boosted technology shares while financials rose on a report that another U.S. brokerage may get a big foreign investment.

A mining sector rally helped the FTSE 100 finish this year's last full week of trading on a high.

Let's say a company reports year-over-year earnings increases of 120% in the first quarter, 220% in the second quarter and 15% in the third quarter. With that kind of track record, it's tough to know what to expect in the next quarter.

RICHMOND, Va. - Holiday shopping might not be enough to save the fourth quarter for struggling electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc.

CHICAGO - Drugstore chain Walgreen Co. used cost-cutting to help it overcome tougher economic conditions in its fiscal first quarter, reporting a modest 5.5 percent profit increase Friday that surpassed Wall Street's expectations.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walgreen Co reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly profit on Friday as cost controls offset weak sales of flu medications and a recall of cold medicines, sending the drugstore chain's shares up 7 percent.

NEW YORK - Drugstore operator Walgreen Co. on Friday said its fiscal first quarter profit rose 6 percent, helped by cost cutting and sales of private-label products as consumers sought out low-price goods.

BERLIN (AFP) - The EU environment commissioner in an interview to appear Sunday rejected German criticism of plans to fine carmakers that miss proposed cuts in carbon emissions from new cars.

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) - Cerberus Capital Management, Chrysler's new owner, expressed confidence about the automaker's future Friday after its chief executive said it was "operationally" bankrupt.

KAMPALA (AFP) - Ugandan and French scientists have for months been observing the behaviour of a group of chimpanzees whose uncanny aptitude for self-medication could help their human cousins discover new drugs.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co said on Tuesday chief executive Sidney Taurel will retire on March 31, turning the reins over to Chief Operating Officer John Lechleiter as the drugmaker prepares for tough times ahead.

KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - An Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Friday putting into orbit telecommunications satellites for Africa and North America, space officials said.

Last month, I flew across the country to visit Fuqua, Duke's business school. In addition to interviewing with a second-year student, attending a Strategy class, touring the campus, and talking with several current students, I met more than a dozen hopeful applicants.

Columbia Business School will be launching a new core curriculum in fall, 2008, that faculty say will give first-year students more elective options, while still helping them build a solid foundation of business management skills. The faculty has been designing the new core since spring; it will feature eight new electives and changes to four already required courses, all of which are being tested now.

With the subprime mess working its way into every back alley of the stock, bond, and money markets, this is a tricky time to be searching for income. Anyone looking for a steady paycheck from an investment portfolio in 2008 will have to negotiate a maze of falling interest rates, shrinking dividends, and potential bond downgrades.

NEW YORK - It's a time of year when we make promises of self-betterment that we have little intention of keeping. Sure, failing to drop those last few pounds or slog through a big read like "Ulysses" might be disappointing, but losing sight of investment goals can lead to longer-lasting troubles.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's rebound from its first full-fledged correction in more than four years could continue this week if investors believe a plan to keep millions of Americans from losing their homes can work.

ABOARD AMTRAK'S LINCOLN SERVICE - The Illinois cornfields whizzing past Mark Hardacre's view from the Amtrak cafe car had nothing on the memorable splendor the Australian had already taken in on his trans-America adventure — the Pacific Ocean so vast and blue off California's coast. The emerald green of the Northwest forests. The majesty of the snowcapped Rockies.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fedex Corp said on Friday that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service found that its FedEx Ground independent contractors should be reclassified as employees for tax purposes and that the company faced related taxes and penalties of more than $319 million for 2002.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors have only a sprinkling of economic data on their plates in the last full week of 2007, but if the numbers come through as expected, stocks may extend Friday's early Santa Claus rally.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group's board of directors awarded a $67.9 million bonus to Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein for 2007, according to a filing with regulators.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials on Friday issued a second warning about reports of deaths and dangerous side effects in patients who used Johnson & Johnson's Duragesic pain-killing skin patch or generic versions.