Wal-Mart Uses Wristbands to Deter Holiday Shopper Melees

With an estimated 140 million Americans predicted to shop this weekend, retailers are bolstering security, deploying Segway patrols and putting on live music to distract shoppers and avoid the deal-hunting scrums that can foster Black Friday tramplings.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Microsoft Said to Lean to Mulally, Nadella in CEO Search

Microsoft Corp.’s board is focusing on Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally and internal executive Satya Nadella as part of a group of more likely candidates to become the next CEO of the world’s biggest software company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Fed Reveals New Concerns About Long-Term U.S. Slowdown

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues are suffering through their own form of cognitive dissonance: revealing new concerns about the economy’s long-term prospects even as they forecast faster growth in 2014.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Zeppelins Seen Hauling Caterpillars to Mine Siberia: Commodities

Robin Young of Amur Minerals Corp. wants to dig for nickel and copper in Siberia where forbidding winters and poor roads make it tough to haul in equipment. His best option: fly it in with zeppelins.
Read more: Bloomberg news

U.S. Sent B-52s Into China Air Zone, Official Says

The U.S. flew two unarmed B-52 bombers into a disputed air-defense zone claimed by China, the first test of China’s response amid escalating tensions in the region that have implications for international air travel.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Speed Traders Meet Nightmare on Elm Street With Nanex

The nemesis of Wall Street’s high- frequency traders operates out of an apartment-sized office above the Bliss Salon -- manicure/pedicure $45 -- on Elm Street in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka.
Read more: Bloomberg news

London Gold Fix Calls Draw Scrutiny Amid Heavy Trading

Every business day in London, five banks meet to set the price of gold in a ritual that dates back to 1919. Now, dealers and economists say knowledge gleaned on those calls could give some traders an unfair advantage when buying and selling the precious metal.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Knox Prosecutor Seeks 30-Year Jail Term in Murder Case

Amanda Knox should be sentenced to 30 years in jail for the 2007 killing of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, prosecutor Alessandro Crini told an appeals court in Florence today.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Russian Prison Stuns Captain of Greenpeace’s Bombed Ship

The captain of a Greenpeace ship released on bail after two months of detention in a Russian prison following an Arctic protest said he and his fellow activists remain in shock at their treatment.
Read more: Bloomberg news

FDA Tells Google-Backed 23andMe to Halt DNA Test Service

23andMe Inc., the Google Inc.-backed DNA analysis company co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, was told by U.S. regulators to halt sales of its main product because it’s being sold without “marketing clearance or approval.”
Read more: Bloomberg news

Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Drop for Fifth Month

The number of contracts Americans signed to buy previously-owned homes unexpectedly fell in October for a fifth consecutive month amid higher borrowing costs that are denting the real-estate recovery.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Boeing 787 Engines’ Ice Risk Spurs FAA to Warn Airlines

U.S. regulators are poised to order airlines to avoid flying Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliners and 747-8 jumbo jets with General Electric Co. engines near thunderstorms after some of the planes experienced ice buildup.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Wal-Mart Names Doug McMillon CEO to Succeed Mike Duke

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Doug McMillon, head of its international business, will replace Mike Duke as chief executive officer when he retires as the world’s largest retailer struggles to ignite growth at home and abroad.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Stocks Climb as Oil Declines on Iran Accord; Yen Weakens

Global stocks climbed to the highest level since 2008 and U.S. equity-index futures signaled shares will extend last week’s record while oil fell after Iran and world powers reached an initial deal on the nation’s nuclear program. Gold dropped and the yen weakened.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Iran Agrees to Deal With Powers to Curb Nuclear Work

Iran’s accord with world powers to limit its nuclear program in exchange for as much as $7 billion in relief from sanctions left Presidents Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani the task of selling the deal to critics.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Apple Agrees to $350 Million Deal for Israel’s PrimeSense

Apple Inc. agreed to acquire PrimeSense Ltd., the maker of motion-tracking chip technology that was used in Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect game console.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Harvard University Students Win the Most Rhodes Scholarships

Students at Harvard University won six Rhodes Scholarships, the most of any school this year, as the 32 U.S. recipients of one of the world’s most prestigious academic awards were named today.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Atlas 747 Set for Takeoff After Landing at Wrong U.S. Airport

They were in Kansas. That’s about all they knew for sure.
Read more: Bloomberg news

GameStop Says 2.3 Million Waiting for New Game Consoles

GameStop Corp., the largest specialty retailer of video games, said its initial allocation of PlayStation 4 consoles sold out and that 2.3 million customers are waiting for new players from Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Obamacare’s Failings Undermine Republican Goals

On May 20, 2009, four Republicans -- Representatives Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes and Senators Richard Burr and Tom Coburn -- unveiled their alternative to the health- care plans then being considered by congressional Democrats. “We have introduced a comprehensive health care reform bill, the Patients’ Choice Act that, we believe, will bring us far closer to the goal of universal coverage than the Obama plan,” they wrote in a joint essay.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Goldman Sees at Least 15% Losses for Gold, Iron Ore

Gold, iron ore, soybeans and copper will probably drop at least 15 percent next year as commodities face increased downside risks even as economic growth in the U.S. accelerates, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Blame Rich, Overeducated Elites as Our Society Frays

Complex human societies, including our own, are fragile. They are held together by an invisible web of mutual trust and social cooperation. This web can fray easily, resulting in a wave of political instability, internal conflict and, sometimes, outright social collapse.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Porsche Macan Chases Land Rover as SUVs Dwarf 911 Demand

Starting next year, the chances are that the next Porsche you see will be a sport-utility vehicle.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Wal-Mart Touts $98 TV in Weakest Holiday Season Since ’09

U.S. retailers are discounting earlier than ever as they brace for the weakest holiday shopping season since 2009.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Junk Glistens Under ‘Bernankecare’ as Worst Stocks Win

Carl Giannone says he’s given up hunting for quality stocks. Now he’s simply riding the wave of upward momentum in the U.S. market.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Bitcoin Gaining Validity Fuels Rally in Virtual Currency: Tech

Bitcoin’s rally is accelerating as the U.S. Department of Justice’s description of the digital currency as a “legal means of exchange” bolsters the prospect of wider acceptance as an alternative payment system.
Read more: Bloomberg news

U.S. Agencies to Say Bitcoins Offer Legitimate Benefits

The Department of Justice said Bitcoins can be “legal means of exchange” at a U.S. Senate committee hearing, boosting prospects for wider acceptance of the virtual currency.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Fed Largess Aids U.S. Financial Strength BofA Deems Unrivaled

Five years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke dropped U.S. interest rates toward zero to end the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, America’s financial markets have become the envy of the world.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Oil's Future Draws Blood and Gore in Investment Portfolios

Al Gore seems to be having a sort of come-to-Wall-Street moment, and he’s not alone. If some analysts are right, fossil fuels are about to get sucker punched. Peak coal? Peak oil? Peak fossil fuels? It all depends on China. 
Read more: Bloomberg news

London Lures Billionaires as Mansions Seen as Safe Haven

“We’ve had offers of around 25 million pounds, but they aren’t quite high enough,” says Noel de Keyzer, a veteran broker for Savills Plc, a London-based real estate agency. We are standing in a surprisingly sunlit subterranean family room beneath the garden of 29 Brompton Square in Knightsbridge, on the market for 27.5 million pounds ($44.3 million). Damien Hirst butterfly prints hang on the earth-tone walls of the recently renovated, fully furnished 1820s house.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Sony Monitors PlayStation ‘Issues’ as Sales Top 1 Million

Sony Corp. sold more than 1 million PlayStation 4 consoles in North America during the first 24 hours of sales, though the company said some buyers reported glitches including the device suddenly turning itself off.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Gold-Laden Brides in India Defying Singh as Culture Wins

As the sound of traditional drums, trumpets and cymbals ushers Amrita Mannil into the wedding hall, she’s adorned by four finely crafted necklaces, rings, 16 bangles, a glistening belt, dangling chandelier earrings and a stone-encrusted head piece to match the silk borders of her dress. She’s wearing about 800 grams (1.8 pounds) of gold.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Amtrak Serving Free Wine to Steak Loses Millions on Food

Amtrak, the U.S. taxpayer-supported passenger railroad, is losing tens of millions of dollars a year on food and beverage service even after years of cost cutting, its inspector general said.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Woods Makes Caddie’s Beef Jerky Golf-Bag Accessory at $54-Pound

At last week’s U.S. PGA Tour event along the Georgia coast, players were treated to a Southern lunch of fried chicken, black-eyed peas and collard greens at Sea Island Resort.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Samsung Said to Plan Galaxy Phone Using Three-Sided Display

Samsung Electronics Co. plans to release a Galaxy smartphone next year with a three-sided display that wraps around the edges so messages can be read from an angle, two people familiar with the plans said yesterday.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Auschwitz Survivor’s Daughter Becomes Billionaire

– Vera Guerin, whose late father Nathan Shapell survived two Nazi concentration camps and became one of California’s largest property developers, emerged as a billionaire last week after Toll Brothers Inc. agreed to buy her family’s Shapell Industries Inc.’s homebuilding business for $1.6 billion.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Apple’s $10.5B on Robots to Lasers Shores Up Supply Chain

Apple Inc. is putting a record $10.5 billion to work in new technology -- from assembly robots to milling machines -- that consumers will never see.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Yellen Says Economy Performing ‘Far Short’ of Potential

Janet Yellen, nominated to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, said the economy and labor market are performing “far short of their potential” and must improve before the Fed can begin reducing monetary stimulus.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Gluten Takes a Beating From Fad Dieters and Grain Giants

Grain sellers want to have their gluten-free cake and eat it, too.
Read more: Bloomberg news

NYC’s World Trade Tower Opens 40% Empty in Revival

The first skyscraper at lower Manhattan’s World Trade Center is set to open with two days of ceremonies to mark the renewal of the area after its destruction by terrorists. When the fanfare subsides, the task will be filling the 40 percent of the tower that’s empty.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Obamacare Web Users Invited by U.S. to Try Signup Again

About 275,000 people who tried and failed to sign up for Obamacare health plans are being asked by the U.S. government to return to the website as the software flaws that initially shut them out are being corrected.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Starbucks to Pay $2.76 Billion to Settle Grocery Dispute

Starbucks Corp. said it would pay Mondelez International Inc. $2.76 billion to settle a dispute over the coffee-shop chain’s bagged-coffee business.
Read more: Bloomberg news

U.S. Stocks Drop as Data, Profits Fuel Fed Taper Bets

U.S. stocks fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreating from a record, as corporate earnings and an improving economy fueled speculation the Federal Reserve will reduce stimulus next month.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Apple Said Developing Curved IPhone Screens, New Sensors

Apple Inc. is developing new iPhone designs including bigger screens with curved glass and enhanced sensors that can detect different levels of pressure, said a person familiar with the plans.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Rescuers Race to Philippines as Typhoon Death Toll Climbs

Rescue workers from Japan to Singapore are rushing to the Philippines after the year’s most powerful typhoon flattened buildings and unleashed storm surges that may have killed as many as 10,000 people, and as a new storm approaches.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Gold Vault Opens in China as Bullion Goes From West to East

A gold vault that can store 2,000 metric tons, double China’s projected consumption this year, opened in Shanghai this month as owner Malca-Amit Global Ltd. seeks to benefit from rising demand in Asia’s largest economy.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Hong Kong Luxury Property Prices Choked by Tightening

Hong Kong businessman Raymond Chiu says he has perfect credit and is prepared to spend about HK$16 million ($2 million) on a 1,000-square-foot apartment in the city’s Mid-Levels residential area. There’s just one catch. The government requires a 50 percent down payment.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Pot-Smoking Quadriplegic’s Firing Shows Haze Over Rules

The marijuana that Brandon Coats smokes under a doctor’s supervision helps calm muscle spasms stemming from a car accident that left him a quadriplegic. It also cost him his job.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Twitter Surges in Trading Debut After $1.82 Billion Share Sale

Twitter Inc. jumped 73 percent in its trading debut, as investors paid a premium for its promises of fast growth.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Super Typhoon Haiyan Slams Philippines With Category-5 Power

Super Typhoon Haiyan, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, slammed into the Philippines today after forcing thousands of people to evacuate.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Emirates Presses Boeing on 777X Performance as Record Deal Looms

Emirates President Tim Clark is pushing Boeing Co. to ensure its newest twin-aisle aircraft meets the airline’s demands as it readies an order that stands to be the biggest in aviation history.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Brent Crude Traders Claim Proof BFOE Boys Rigged Market

Four longtime traders in the global oil market claim in a lawsuit that the prices for buying and selling crude are fixed -- and that they can prove it.
Read more: Bloomberg news

U.S. Stocks Advance Toward Records Amid Fed Stimulus Speculation

U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record close, as Federal Reserve officials said economic weakness warrants continued stimulus and investors await data this week on jobs and growth.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Blockbuster Video-Rental Chain Will Shut All U.S. Stores

Blockbuster LLC, the video-rental company owned by Dish Network Corp., will close its remaining 300 U.S. stores, ending an era for a chain that was once a ubiquitous part of American shopping centers.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Virginia, Alabama Voter Choices Show Tea Party Declining

In the closing days of his losing campaign for Virginia’s governorship, Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli called the contest a referendum on Obamacare. Virginia voter Lee Killen saw it instead as a referendum on the Tea Party -- and he voted no.
Read more: Bloomberg news

E-Cigs Wafting Into Workplace 25 Years After Smoking Ban

When John Castellano feels like a smoke, he simply heads to the break room at Kraft Foods Group Inc.’s Garland, Texas, factory.
Read more: Bloomberg news

NFL Player With Elite College Degree Became Bullying Target

A degree from an elite academic school can make a player a magnet for bullying from teammates in the National Football League, according to a former Harvard University linebacker who spent seven seasons in the NFL.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Cohen’s Dream of Soros Status Dies as SAC Pleads Guilty

In the hedge fund record books, there will always be doubts about how Steven A. Cohen outperformed rivals for more than 20 years.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Twitter IPO More Expensive Than Facebook Without Profits

Twitter Inc. is poised to price its initial public offering at a valuation that makes it more expensive than Facebook Inc., a profitable rival with five times as many users.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Google’s 8th Ranked Lobbying Machine Takes on Spy Debate

Google Inc. is moving its Washington office closer to Capitol Hill after spending $18.2 million on lobbying, more than Northrop Grumman Corp. and enough to rank the technology company as the eighth-biggest advocacy spender.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Bernanke Giving Homebuyers Second Chance With Pledge: Mortgages

This was supposed to be the year that Herb Harrison found a newer, bigger home to replace his current house in Framingham, Massachusetts. Then, in May, mortgage rates began to rise and he put his hunt on hold.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Dirty Munich Home’s Nazi Loot Estimated at $1.35 Billion

Cornelius Gurlitt rarely visited the Munich apartment which German customs officials entered two years ago in the hopes of nailing a suspected tax evader.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Gold Bug Schiff Counters Goldman on First Drop Since 2000

Peter Schiff lays an iPod-sized bar valued at about $40,000 on the sun room floor of his Connecticut mansion, and calculates it would cost about $250,000 for each floor tile to pave the room with gold.
Read more: Bloomberg news

BlackBerry Takeover Bid Collapses; CEO Heins Ousted

BlackBerry Ltd., coping with the collapse of a $4.7 billion buyout by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., will raise $1 billion in convertible bonds and seek a new chief executive officer for the struggling company.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Iran Burning Gas Worth Billions Set to Lead Exporters Group

Iran will lead a club of the world’s biggest natural gas exporters as its own shipments abroad are hampered by U.S. and European Union sanctions that force the country to burn off billions of dollars worth of the fuel.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Southeast Asian Sites Hacked Before Global Anonymous Protest

The Anonymous hacker group stepped up cyber attacks across Southeast Asia, targeting websites in the Philippines and Singapore before a global protest today against censorship and government corruption.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Americans’ Debt Hangover Seen Ending in Boost to Growth

Suffering from a debt hangover for the past four years, Americans will resort to a time-honored cure -- hair of the dog that bit them. A pickup in borrowing will give the world’s biggest economy a much-needed boost next year as federal government austerity pinches growth.
Read more: Bloomberg news

SAC Agrees to Plead Guilty to End Insider-Trading Case

Billionaire Steven A. Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors LP, the hedge fund accused of fostering a culture of rampant insider trading, has agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud, pay a record $1.8 billion and shutter its investment advisory business.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Google, Oracle Workers Enlisted for Obamacare 'Tech Surge'

Google Inc., Red Hat Inc., Oracle Corp. and other technology companies are contributing dozens of computer engineers and programmers to help the Obama administration fix the U.S. health-insurance exchange website.
Read more: Bloomberg news