Business - Investor's Business Daily

1 The major indexes dipped amid conflicting economic signals, but all closed at or near the top of the session's trading range. The Dow and NYSE composite declined 0.2% while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Volume was down on the NYSE, but up on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1%.

The Senate health care vote Saturday got the floor debate started, but it pushed the tea party movement closer to the boiling point. Grass-roots activists aim to turn the pressure on fence-sitting Democrats Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

The Federal Reserve upgraded its view of the U.S. economy on Tuesday, saying this year's contraction won't be as steep as previously thought and that growth next year may be better than expected.

Ultrasound and underwater sonar devices may be improved thanks to the development of what researchers have called the first acoustic hyperlens. The brass hyperlens developed by the Energy Dept.'s Berkeley Lab is made of 36 fins, spread out in a half-circle like a handheld fan, says a Discovery News report. Researchers say manipulation of the imaging sound waves enables the hyperlens to bring into view much smaller features, such as an unborn baby's nose, than can be detected using today's technologies.

Two southern provinces were placed under emergency rule by Pres. Gloria Arroyo as security forces unearthed more bodies, pushing the death toll to 46 in some of the deadliest election violence in the nation's history. Authorities found 22 bodies in a hillside mass grave, adding to the 24 bullet-riddled bodies recovered near the scene of Mon.'s massacre in Maguindanao province. As many as 5 people remained unaccounted for.

Three carriers were fined $175,000 by the Transportation Dept. for stranding 47 passengers aboard a plane on an airport tarmac in Rochester, Minn., in Aug. The plane was diverted from Minneapolis to Rochester in bad weather, but it landed after the airport terminal was closed for the night. Continental Airlines and its partner ExpressJet, which operated the flight, were each fined $50,000, and Mesaba Airlines, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines , was fined $75,000 for not allowing passengers to disembark.

The central bank has asked banks that underwent "stress tests" to submit plans to repay money received from the $700 bil TARP program, Reuters quoted a source as saying. Many banks want to repay the money because TARP came with restrictions on pay. The source said 9 of the 10 banks left in the program may soon be allowed to repay TARP money if they meet capital requirements.

Junk Science: The Senate expects to take up global warming legislation by spring, but nothing more should happen in Congress on this issue until there's been a thorough probe of the ClimateGate scandal.

Year to date, Chinese stocks on U.S. exchanges have led the uptrend.

As basketball season starts up again, countless coaches are no doubt shouting out this principle to their teams during practice: Defense wins championships.

Shifting assets from money market funds yielding near zero, investors stuffed a near-record $45.02 billion into bond funds in October. Also, skittish about a sell-off in stocks, they pulled $7.08 billion from stock funds.

U.S. telecom firms have hit a ceiling as most Americans have a cell phone and Internet access. These firms can only dream of untapped potential in China, the world's largest mobile market.

John Wooden, the most successful coach in college basketball history, didn't measure his team by a game's final score.

To achieve a workplace culture of nonstop innovation, start with a top-down company overhaul, says leadership coach Stephen Shapiro, author of "24/7 Innovation."

When he lost a big government contract to build the Shasta Dam in Northern California, he found a way to make the loss a win.

1 Stocks jumped into the Thanksgiving holiday week on a positive note, helped by a weaker dollar and surprisingly strong housing data. The NYSE composite, Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 all climbed 1.4%. The Dow gained 1.3% to a 52-week high. Turnover fell across the board. 95% of IBD's 197 industry groups rose.

More taxpayer bailouts or increase markets' regulatory uncertainty? That may be the trade-off from legislation dealing with financials deemed "too big to fail."

Kevin Kelley will hit the stores on Friday's holiday shopping kickoff armed with a plan of attack.

Justice: Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try five 9/11 plotters by a civilian court in New York rather than a military tribunal at Gitmo is already paying dividends -- for the terrorists.

A stringy material inspired by the goo that marine snails use to protect growing embryos may have a range of applications, including replacement ligaments for knees and other joints, says a Discovery Channel report. The substance produced by snails is called mermaid's necklace. It resembles a gooey string of pearls several feet long. Scientists at the Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara, say a synthetic substitute they are developing could be used for self-healing artificial ligaments, as well as in bungee and parachute cords.

Separate bomb attacks and a firefight killed 4 U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan, the military said Mon. Also, a suicide bomber, targeting a police convoy, killed 2 civilian men and 3 children in northern Kunduz province, the Afghan Interior Ministry said. Five others were wounded in the attack. The deaths bring the number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in Nov. to 15.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh, who will meet with Pres. Obama in Washington on Tue., said that Indian and U.S. officials will sign a memorandum intended to improve cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change. Singh did not provide details, but will use the White House visit to ease differences on global warming with the U.S. ahead of an international conference next month.

The Chicago Fed's index of national economic activity fell to -1.08 in Oct. from -1.01 in Sept. The 3-month average fell to -0.91 in Oct. from -0.67, the first drop this year. Readings below -0.7 indicate a growing chance that a recession has begun.

As a wireless price war rages in India, competition has eased in another of the world's fastest-growing markets, nearby Indonesia.

Diversification may be a mantra for many asset managers. For Jim Oelschlager, it's anathema to his entire method of investing.

Cash is king, the saying goes, and for businesses it's cash flow in particular that reigns high.

Brazilian homebuilder Gafisa is in the sixth week of a possible cup base.

Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao has lots of them. With over 1,000 grocery, electronics and drug stores, as well as 78 gas stations, it's the third-largest supermarket chain in its country.