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The 2008 holiday sales season is one of the worst for retailers in decades, as consumers’ concerns about the economy and job losses crushed the typical year-end shopping exuberance.
‘I don’t see any reason for retailers to be rejoicing at all," said Britt Beemer, chairman and founder of America’s Research Group.
Among the early sales tallies, […]

A proposed Internet filter dubbed the "Great Aussie Firewall" is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries.
Consumers, civil rights activists, engineers, Internet providers and politicians from opposition parties are among the critics of a mandatory Internet filter that would block at least 1,300 websites prohibited by […]

Good news: Lenders are ramping up their attempts to help troubled home borrowers.
Now for the bad: Most of the mortgage fixes being deployed are destined to fail.
Hope Now, the coalition put together to fight foreclosures, boasts that it has helped 3 million families stay in their homes since the housing crisis began in […]

Toyota Motor Corp forecast a first-ever annual operating loss, blaming a relentless sales slide and a crippling rise in the yen in what it said was an emergency unprecedented in its 70-year history.
Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, had been expected to issue its second profit warning in less than seven weeks after domestic rival […]

The plunging price of jet fuel has airline passengers wondering why fares haven’t plunged accordingly.
But even with lower fuel costs, the recession has put further pressure on hard-hit airlines, and that’s why analysts say they’re resistant to cut ticket prices or rescind fees for services that once came for free.
"When fuel prices started dropping, […]

As the clock ticks for U.S. mall owner General Growth Properties Inc GGP.N to renegotiate loans, the possibility that it or other large landlords may seek bankruptcy protection is threatening to complicate turnarounds for retailers who also go bankrupt.
A sharp decline in consumer spending and an inability to access credit markets has hurt both […]

Manufacturers are ending a bruising year with a new round of bad news and grim outlooks for 2009.
Industrial production fell 0.6 percent in November as the country’s output of cars, automotive goods, home electronics, appliances and furniture tumbled in the face of declining orders, the Federal Reserve reported Monday. Consumers and commercial buyers […]

Bank of America said Thursday it plans to slash up to 35,000 jobs over the next three years as it absorbs Merrill Lynch and contends with the deepening recession.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, which will be the nation’s largest financial services firm when the Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) deal closes in coming weeks, said […]

Five states, including Ohio, are in danger of running out of funds they use to pay unemployment benefits, meaning they may have no choice but to increase taxes on employers, cut benefits for laid-off workers or borrow the cash.
This comes at a time when job cuts are accelerating and states are facing huge deficits […]

Congressional Democrats and the Bush White House have reached an agreement in principle on providing stopgap support for the U.S. auto industry, according to congressional and industry sources.
The deal would keep the most troubled companies out of bankruptcy court at least through the end of March. While the money is less than the automakers […]