The Spirit Carries On

Markets were pulled in different directions on Friday after a grim U.S. consumer outlook tugged the dollar lower but upbeat comments from big U.S. retailers pushed investors to buy stocks.

The U.S. dollar's weak performance was also attributed to data showing a resumption of economic growth in the euro zone and a widening September U.S. trade deficit.

Shares of Palm Inc rose 8 percent on Friday fueled by rumors that bigger rival phone maker Nokia may be eyeing the maker of the Pre and Pixi smartphones.

"Palm shares jumped and its call volume surged to 9 times their normal level as more than 80,000 call contracts traded by midday on renewed takeover speculation," said Frederic Ruffy, option strategist at WhatsTrading.com, a Web information site.

NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks could face difficulty gaining traction next week as the S&P 500 bumps against the 1,100 mark and investors become content to cool their heels rather than risk losing gains made for the year.

IT IS a curious blend of kitchen and laboratory. From one room wafts the bittersweet smell of chocolate being gently heated and stirred by chocolatiers. Around the corner it is all science. A double row of cubicles contains human guinea pigs who sniff and taste from little tubs, scoring each on criteria such as sweetness or bitterness to produce complex flavour charts. Down the corridor, women in comfortable chairs talk about how chocolate makes them feel. Cameras and microphones record their most minute gestures for the scrutiny of psychologists and anthropologists

Chinese shares were mixed on Thursday, with the U.S. decision to hold interest rates unchanged giving a boost to sentiment, while weak Shanghai metal futures pushed down miners.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.85 percent to 3,155.05 points.

Turnover in Shanghai was 157.7 billion yuan (US$23.1 billion), compared with the five-day average of 155.4 billion yuan. Gainers led losers three to one.

“MR OSBORNE…has embarked on a half-baked plan of destruction,” thundered a London banker in a letter to the Financial Times. Not all City folk have been so scathing. But plans to abolish the Financial Services Authority (FSA) announc...

Two different viruses will lay millions low this winter
IT HAS taken seven months for the vaccine intended to protect people from the potentially deadly H1N1 strain of influenza to start trickling onto pharmacy shelves. The first doses are now being made available in America. Supplies will remain limited for months to come. In the meantime, the vaccine—both the killed version that is injected and the attenuated live version that is given as a nasal spray—is being rationed to those reckoned most in need.

     THE offer that BHP Billiton, a mining conglomerate, made in mid-October to buy United Minerals, a prospecting firm with operations near BHP’s iron-ore mines in the Pilbara region of Australia, came with one notable string attached: United must abandon plans to sell an 11% stake to China Railway Materials Group, a state-owned Chinese firm. If United’s shareholders accept the A$204m ($187m) BHP is proffering, as their managers recommend, it will mark another defeat in the Chinese government’s concerted but largely fruitless campaign to gain more influence over the market for iron ore.