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Stock rallied broadly on some encouraging number from the labor market, shrugging off worrying geopolitical developments in Asia and some dour housing data, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday, which will kick off the Christmas shopping season.

J. Crew's takeover has boosted the stock prices of several other retailers, possibly because this acquisition is stoking M&A interest in the broad sector.

Stephen Baker. senior industry analyst for consumer technology at NPD Group, expects that overall that consumer electronics will not perform as well as they have the past couple of years this holiday season.

comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), an internet marketing research company, said it expects online shopping to increase by 11 percent this holiday season.

The brokerage lowered its price target on shares of the apparel retailer to $45 from $46.

Thanksgiving traditionally means a celebration of plentiful harvest, but people this year may end up spending a little more on the thanksgiving dinner than before according to the 25th annual survey done by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

UK economy grew in the third quarter, boosted mainly by a strong increase in exports of goods and services.

Campbell Soup Co. said quarterly earnings were hit by lower sales of its high-margin ready-to-serve and condensed eating soups, where higher promotional spending did not produce the planned volume gains.

Greece's international lenders have agreed to provide the debt-ridden country with the third installment of a loan – valued at 9-billion euros -- but warned that the Greeks must make an extra effort to address its deficit next year.

After Google failed to bypass carriers with Nexus One, Apple couldn't resist carrier pressure and folded its plans to weave the SIM card into the hardware in partnership with Gemalto.

Growth of the U.S economy is expected to remain sluggish next year as the nation suffers from high employment, high public debt, and rising commodity prices, says a report.

The need to buy gifts may overwhelm the influence of purchase pain on spending decisions.

As Ireland appears to be on the verge of resolving its debt crisis, the focus may now shift to yet another fiscally-troubled peripheral euro nation, Portugal.

The battle for the Christmas shopping pie has hardened between retail behemoths and online shopping firms, with most retailers coming up with shopper-friendly offers to lure holiday customers.

Retail sales in October picked up pace, and brightened the outlook for year-end shopping as purchases rose 1.2%, the highest in the last seven months.

As “Black Friday” approaches next week, U. S. retailers are expecting a strong holiday season – at least, compared to the dismal performance of the past two years.

A recent study has put Russia ahead of its Western Europe counterparts as a hot MBA recruitment destination. Retaining the momentum in hiring for the second year, it has shown a steady 22 per cent growth in MBAs recruited, according to QS TopMBA Jobs Index.

Cardinal Health Inc. announced its acquisition of privately-held drug distributor Kinray Inc. for $1.3 billion in cash to expand its presence in community pharmacy.

Staples Inc., the world's largest office products company, reported 7 percent rise in quarterly profit, which also came in above market estimates, as it managed to keep a lid on its costs.

Retail sales in the U.K. rose by 0.5 percent for the first time in three months during October, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics.

The Chevrolet Volt electric car is the Automobile Magazine's 2011 Automobile of the Year. The award will be presented to Joel Ewanick, GM U.S. Marketing Vice President, on Wednesday at the Los Angeles International Auto Show.