Business

• Credit cards: No holiday help from Congress
  A congressional effort to enact swift rules to protect credit card consumers during the holiday shopping season is all but dead.
  
• Black Friday shopping to jump 16%
  Black Friday shopping is expected to pick up more than 16% this year, according to a survey released Tuesday.
  
• Stimulus cash runs out for small business loans
  The stimulus cash that helped boost small business lending this year just ran out.
  
• Hello Bing: News Corp's search for search
  
  
• A Chinese-owned GM, it could happen
  GM could one day be Chinese owned.
  
• Crib recall: 2.1 million deemed unsafe
  The federal agency in charge of product safety announced the recall of 2.1 million cribs Monday, citing defective hardware that can cause toddlers and infants to suffocate.
  
• Mazda's penny-pinching path to cleaner cars
  When you have lemons, make lemonade.
  
• Behind the Zhu Zhu mania
  Zhu Zhu Pets, the inexplicably cute robotic hamsters that have become this year's overnight holiday toy sensation, are selling out across the country.
  
• Banks' newest game: Debit card fees
  Could debit cards be the next cash cow for banks? If banks have their way, they will.
  
• Gold surges to a fresh record
  Gold rallied to an all-time high Monday, climbing ever closer to $1,200 an ounce, as the U.S. dollar slid and investors showed nervousness about the economy.
  
• Buffett's big bet: Trailing behind after lap one
  Remember "Buffett's Big Bet", in which the noted investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway maintained that an S&P 500 index fund would outperform five funds-of-hedge-funds over 10 years? Well, the results for the first lap, the agonizing year of 2008, are finally in, and the funds-of-funds soundly whipped the index. Vanguard's S&P 500 Admiral shares, the index fund "bought" by Buffett, were down 37%. On the average, and net of all fees, costs, and expenses, the five funds-of-funds backed by Buffett's opponent, Protégé Partners LLC, a New York money-management firm, delivered: -23.9%.
  
• Existing home sales at highest level since 2007
  Existing home sales surged in October to the highest level in more than 2-1/2 years, according to a real estate industry report issued Monday.
  
• State tax collections in steep drop
  State tax collections nationwide plummeted in the third quarter, and the forecast for the remainder of the year looks grim, a report released Monday shows.
  
• Bonds ease ahead of auction
  
  
• Dow spikes to 13-month high
  Stocks surged Monday, with the Dow touching its highest point in more than a year, on a strong housing report and a rally in commodities.
  
• Why Kozlowski should get clemency
  For inmate No. 05A4820, the days are pretty much the same. At the Mid-State Correctional Facility in upstate New York, Dennis Kozlowski, 63, sorts prison laundry, awaits mail call, enjoys his private supply of fresh fruit, watches Yankees games (he's a minority owner), and tries to sleep in a cell where the bright light never goes out.
  
• Fed rage boils over on Capitol Hill
  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a tough road ahead.
  
• What Congress has in store for the Fed
  More than a year after the financial meltdown of 2008, Congress is moving forward on plans to drastically curtail the power of the Federal Reserve.
  
• 5 ways to pump up your income
  Wish you had a little more money in your wallet these days? Who doesn't?
  
• Dollar falls broadly on Fed comments