Manikandan Raman

At a time when electric cars are beginning to steal the limelight from their gas-eating rivals, a new finding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over General Motors' (NYSE:GM) electric vehicle, Chevrolet Volt, may likely question the safety of electric cars.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) has begun in Durban, South Africa, where about 10,000 officials from 194 countries will meet in a bid to arrive at a new climate change deal.

Shares of graphics chip maker Nvidia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVDA) have outperformed in recent time, following better-than-expected results and guidance, news reports of Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) socket wins in the Macbook and Macbook Pros for 2012 and with still high hopes for Tegra despite lackluster sequential growth in the second half of 2011.

Solid Black Friday and weekend checks indicate Apple is off to a solid holiday season as traffic at Apple stores was extremely robust with positive checks at other channels.

Double-digit growth in online consumer spending so far this holiday season shows that e-commerce is the place to be for investors looking to benefit from online bargain shopping.

The year 2011 saw the various sequels of TV shows as well as new series entertaining the home audience. Following are our top 10 TV shows of 2011.

Indian Rupee gained Thursday, breaking an eight-session losing streak, after the country's central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), took several measures to stem the fall of rupee against the greenback.

Following are the top Black Friday deals offered by various leading retailers on video games and consoles.

Shares of Daily Deals site Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) fell 15.5 percent, or $3.11, Wednesday to $16.96, more than $3 below its initial trading price of $20.

Taiwan's HTC negatively pre-announced fourth-quarter revenue Wednesday, citing the economic downturn and market competition.

The market is expecting that China would loosen its monetary policy in the coming months, and many believe a selective easing has already begun, and that more serious easing will come soon.

Retailers face the official beginning of holiday shopping season on Black Friday, which falls on Nov.25, a day after Thanksgiving.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it intends to effectively block AT&T's (NYSE:T) proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile by referring the matter to an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for review.

Cigna Corp. (NYSE:CI), which recently received antitrust clearances for its $4 billion acquisition of HealthSpring, Inc. (NYSE:HS), has now three distinctive growth drivers for 2012-2013.

The failure of the U.S. Congressional Super Committee to reach a deal on reducing the budget deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years implies that uncertainty over defense spending is set to continue in to 2012.

Gold prices have recouped its losses as the failure of the U.S. congressional committee to reach a deal on reducing the budget deficit and the ongoing eurozone crisis brought back the bargain hunters.

Deutsche Bank has lowered its profit estimates of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) saying that profit centers of the company's major businesses are structurally handicapped and turnaround will be long and slow.

As the Black Friday is around the corner, lot of retailers are launching several promotional offers for Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States and traditionally marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

The Eurozone crisis, which has intensified since early 2010, shows no signs of abating and has put several member countries on the brink of default.

Google officially opened its new music store to the U.S. public on Nov.16, thereby putting the search giant's service in direct competition with Apple's iTunes and Amazon's MP3 services.

The top after-market NYSE gainers are: ING Group, Zale Corp, Acco Brands, Dycom and E-House. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Jinko Solar, Collective Brands, Trina Solar, Republic Services and Accretive Health.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) would raise $6 billion in debt and suspend share buybacks as part its $11 billion acquisition of Pharmasset, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRUS), according to a Wall Street analyst.

According to a Wall Street analyst, the anticipated North American light crude oil surplus suggests a sustainable price discount of $6 - $8 per barrel versus similar quality waterborne barrels.

Digital China Holdings, an IT vendor, said it was looking at acquiring targets in China's IT service sector and AsiaInfo-Linkage Inc. (NASDAQ:ASIA), hiSoft Technology International (NYSE:HSFT) or VanceInfo Technologies (NYSE:VIT) could be the beneficiaries of this development.

The demand for the iPhone 4S has been strong, ever since Apple Inc. started shipping the latest iteration of its iPhone series. In fact, market experts are expecting Apple to ship over 70 million units of the iPhone in 2011.

Automaker Honda unveiled its completely redesigned fourth-generation 2012 CR-V at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The new CR-V will go on-sale at Honda dealerships nationwide Dec. 15.

Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) said Thursday it slipped to a loss in its third quarter on higher costs and said the losses would continue into the fourth quarter.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Blue Coat Systems, Focus Media, CTC Media, KIT Digital, Shoe Carnival, Photronics, Republic Airways Holdings, ON Semiconductor, Morgans Hotel and Perry Ellis.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Columbia Labs, Cadence Pharma, SemiLEDS, Alnylam Pharma and Liberty Interactive.