CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bargain-hunters mobbed retailers at the start of the holiday shopping season, but it remained to be seen whether they were in a buying mood amid a slumping housing market, a credit crunch and rising fuel costs, experts said on Saturday.
BERLIN (Reuters) - The sharp decline of the U.S. dollar poses an "existential" long-term threat to Airbus that will force it to shift production to dollar-zone countries and rein in development plans, the head of Airbus parent EADS said.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has scheduled a hearing next week to take new pleas from three former British bankers accused of fraud in an Enron-related case, court records showed on Saturday.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Freddie Mac , the U.S. mortgage finance company that stunned Wall Street with a $2 billion quarterly loss earlier this week, plans to sell $5 billion of preferred stock in a deal to be launched as early as next week, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rebounded on Friday in an abbreviated session as the start of holiday shopping lifted retail stocks, while progress in a plan to relieve the credit market's strain aided bank shares.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp is believed to be in merger talks with Charles Schwab Corp and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp , according to a report on Friday on business news channel CNBC.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Topps Meat Co, which in September recalled 21.7 million pounds of beef linked to E. coli-related bacteria, has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to liquidate.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wireless chipmaker Broadcom Corp said on Friday it will not receive double damages awarded in a lawsuit after a federal judge affirmed a jury verdict that found rival Qualcomm Inc infringed three patents.
OSLO (Reuters) - The economy's great flexibility has reduced the risk of recession from the subprime mortgage crisis, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Friday.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - H&R Block Inc , the largest U.S. tax preparer, on Friday said the subprime lending unit it is trying to sell has obtained $350 million of new funding capacity from a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc .
