WALL STREET
Weak dollar, home sales data carry stocks higher
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors halted a three-day losing streak on the stock market yesterday, sending prices broadly higher on a weaker dollar and better-than-expected home sales numbers.
The National Association of Realtors said home sales rose 10.1 percent in October to the highest level in two and a half years, spurred by a tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
Meanwhile, a falling dollar is pushing commodities' prices higher.
The Dow Jones industrial average is up 133 at 10,451, a 13-month high. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 15 at 1,106. The Nasdaq composite index is up 30 at 2,176.
Four stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume totaled 977.5 million shares compared with 1.1 billion Friday.
WORLD MARKETS
Asaian stocks slip
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly lower Tuesday despite gains on Wall Street as China's warning to banks to control lending dragged down financial stocks in Hong Kong.
The region also got a poor cue from Japan, where stocks fell after the market was closed for a holiday Monday.
Investors shrugged off Wall Street ending a three-day losing streak Monday and figures showing that U.S. home sales rose 10 percent in October.
News that China's central bank was warning banks to control a lending spree underlined there are limits to the easy credit which has underpinned the country's rapid recovery from the global recession.
China's Shanghai benchmark was the only one to bucked the downward trend.
OIL PRICES
Crude just below $78
SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil hovered below $78 a barrel today in Asia amid mixed signs about the global economy and crude demand.
Investor optimism was buoyed by a report Monday from the National Association of Realtors that October home sales rose more than 10 percent, suggesting strength in the U.S. economy. But crude refiner Valero Energy said it shut down a plant last week because demand for oil products such as gasoline has been weak.
And just in time for holiday travel retail gasoline prices have been headed downward in most places.
Department of Energy data and the auto club AAA put the nationwide average at $2.64 for gallon of regular unleaded. That compares with $1.93 at this time last year.
Relatively strong crude prices have helped keep gas prices well above $2.50.
ECONOMIC REPORTS
Third quarter GDP report due, retail sales showing signs of improvement
WASHINGTON (AP) — The report on the economy's return to growth last quarter may have been a bit too rosy and a revision due out Tuesday is expected to reflect that.
Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters say they think the government report will show that the economy expanded at a pace of 2.9 percent from July through September, not the 3.5 percent originally reported.
The main forces behind the expected downgrade are weaker commercial construction, increased drag from the nation's trade gap, lower business stockpiles and less consumer spending.
So, while the economy is growing again, Federal Reserve officials and other economists say it's not strong enough to quickly drive down the nation's unemployment rate, now at 10.2 percent.
Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, calls it "a half-speed recovery."
Meanwhile, new figures are out already this morning on retail sales. They show signs of improvement as many stores try to entice shoppers with massive discounts.
On the negative side, sales of clothing and luxury goods weakened a bit in the first half of November.
The numbers come from SpendingPulse.
OBAMA-ECONOMY
Obama: US economy has 'core strengths'
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. economy has "core strengths" that will put the nation in a good stead for the long term despite a difficult year for millions of people.
Wrapping a Cabinet meeting Monday, Obama spoke in upbeat terms about the strength of American universities, workers and entrepreneurship.
But the president also said that the growth of the economy is not sufficient given the double-digit unemployment that has sapped much of the nation's spirit.
Said Obama, "We cannot sit back and be satisfied."
Emphasizing job creation, Obama told Cabinet members that they are blessed to be able to try to make a difference in the lives of millions of people. He also told them to get a little rest over the Thanksgiving holiday.
COFFEE BATTLE
Peet's raises offer for Diedrich to $265M
EMERYVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Coffee chain retailer Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. says it has raised its offer for the wholesale roaster and distributor Diedrich Coffee Inc. by about 24 percent to $265 million.
Peet's said Monday its revised proposal is valued at $32 per share, up from the $26 per share proposed in November. It includes stock and cash.
The sweetened offer comes after Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. bid $30 per share in cash — about $247 million - for Diedrich.
But investors sent Diedrich Coffee shares above the latest price being offered by Peet's, suggesting they think the bidding is not over.
Diedrich shares climbed $7.14, or 27.5 percent, to $33.13 in afternoon trading.
GOOGLE-DISPLAY ADS ACQUISITION
Google scoops up display ad specialist Teracent
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Google has bought a Silicon Valley startup that customizes the online billboards known as display advertising.
The acquisition of Teracent is another example of how Google is trying to become a bigger player in the Internet's display advertising market.
Google so far has made most of its money from short text messages placed alongside Internet search results and other Web content.
Teracent, which is based in San Mateo, Calif., was started in 2006 by Vikas Jha. He's a former engineer at one-time Google rival Inktomi.
Google, which is based in nearby Mountain View, hasn't disclose financial terms of the deal announced Monday.
WYETH-HORMONE LAWSUIT
$75M verdict unsealed in Prempro-cancer case
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A jury in Philadelphia has ordered Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to pay a woman $75 million in punitive damages after finding a link between her breast cancer and a hormone-replacement drug.
That's according to an attorney for the woman, Connie Barton.
Last month, the jury awarded Barton $3.75 million in compensatory damages and found Wyeth willfully hid evidence of a cancer link.
The punitive award for Barton, of Peoria, Ill., had been sealed until Monday because of another Prempro case under way in the same courthouse.
A spokesman for Pfizer Inc., which recently acquired Wyeth, says the company will challenge the Barton verdict, and another verdict also announced Monday.
Barton's case is one of a handful of Prempro lawsuits to go to trial out of several thousand filed across the country.
CRIB RECALL
Govt issues record 2.1M recall for dropside cribs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government safety regulators say more than 2.1 million dropside cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing are being recalled, the biggest crib recall in U.S history.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based.
Nearly 150,000 of the cribs on recall carry the Fisher-Price logo.
The agency is aware of four deaths of young children who suffocated in the cribs, which have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily.
The Stork Craft cribs have had problems with their hardware, which can break, or with assembly mistakes by the crib owner.
CHINA-SHANGHAI DISNEY
China planning agency OKs Shanghai Disney project
SHANGHAI (AP) — China's economic planning agency has approved a plan to build a Disney theme park in Shanghai, giving the city a new showcase following next year's World Expo.
Disney has said the initial phase of the project would include a Magic Kingdom-style park tailored to the Shanghai region.
Shanghai is China's biggest city and its commercial and financial hub. It's in the midst of a construction boom ahead of the World Expo, which will open May 1. Some city residents were long ago moved off farmland near the city's main international airport to make way for the theme park.
Disney has gradually expanded its presence in mainland China after opening a theme park in Hong Kong in 2005 and now has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
BOOKS-PALIN
AP source: Palin book sells big in first week
NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah Palin appears well on her way to becoming a million-selling author.
"Going Rogue" sold 700,000 copies — a number that includes pre-orders — in its first week of release, according to a publishing official close to the former Alaska governor. The official was not authorized to release the sales figure and asked not to be identified.
Palin's memoir came out Nov. 17 with a first printing of 1.5 million copies. On Friday, publisher HarperCollins announced that the printing would be increased to 2.5 million.
Few nonfiction books have debuted so well. In 2004, Bill Clinton's "My Life" sold more than 900,000 copies in its first week.
