NPR Audio - Business

The economy grew at a 2.8 percent pace last quarter, as the recovery got off to a slower start than first thought. The government's new reading on gross domestic product wasn't as energetic as the 3.5 percent growth rate for the July-September period estimated a month ago. A separate report said confidence in the economy improved slightly in November.

Lots of young fans — and many of their moms and dads — are excited about the arrival of Tiana, the heroine of The Princess and the Frog, the latest animated Walt Disney film. It's more than just a new movie to many: Tiana is Disney's first African-American princess, a role model many parents have been waiting for for a long time.

As millions of Americans plan for long drives to Thanksgiving dinner, many will use GPS devices to guide the way. But analysts say GPS-enabled cell phones, now with bigger screens and better speakers, are going to cut into the sales of stand-alone devices.

McDonald's logo is going green to promote a more eco-friendly image in Europe. It is swapping its traditional red backdrop for a deep green. The company says about 100 German McDonald's will make the change by the end of the year. Some franchises in Great Britain and France already have started using the new color scheme.

The National Association of Realtors said home sales rose 10.1 percent in October. That's the highest level in two and a half years, spurred by a tax credit for first-time home buyers. Figures also released on Monday indicate an increasing number of Americans owe more on their home than it is worth.

Sales at That's My Room in Salt Lake City have slowed to less than $5,000 a month. Despite making cutbacks, the owners say, they haven't taken a paycheck since the store opened a year and a half ago — right when the recession hit.

The debate in Washington over how much the health care overhaul bills will cost has largely centered on the bottom line for the federal government. But polls repeatedly show Americans are much more concerned about how a reshaped health care system will affect their own family's financial situation.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and manufacturer Stork Craft Manufacturing of British Columbia announced a recall of 2.1 million drop-side cribs on Monday following reports of the deaths of four children who suffocated in defective cribs. It is the largest crib recall on record.

New Moon, the second movie in the popular Twilight" series, brought in more than $140-million in ticket sales in North America, starting with midnight screenings on Friday. That's the third biggest opening on record. Ben Fritz, an entertainment business reporter for The Los Angeles Times, says the audience for the movie was overwhelmingly female.

News Corp. and Microsoft are working on a deal that might take News Corp. content off of Google and put it exclusively on Bing, Microsoft's search engine. That means that if you do a Google search, content from a News Corp. outlet, such as The Wall Street Journal or Fox News, would not show up. You would have to use Bing to find it.

The economic downturn forced many companies to seek extra ways to shrink costs: Some imposed furloughs or fewer work hours; others tried a straight wage reduction. Many of those companies are now concerned, however, about hanging on to their employees.

Many parents and teachers view college as the natural path to success. But diplomas are getting more expensive, and many people succeed without a bachelor's degree. Guests address the value of a college degree, and whether the fields projected to grow require them.

Each holiday season, thousands of people find temporary jobs helping retail companies meet the demands of the busiest shopping period of the year. This year, many companies are being cautious about additional hiring because consumers are expected to spend only slightly more than last year.

The agency says preliminary data show more reports of serious cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks and strokes, in high-risk patients taking Meridia compared with those on a placebo.

The federal government said it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.

News Corp. and Microsoft are said to be in talks about a "Web pact" aimed at Google. The media company would be paid to "de-index" its news sites from Google, The Financial Times reports.

Home resales far exceeded expectations last month, surging 10.1 percent to the highest level in 2 1/2 years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit. Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million in October.

Many small towns across rural America continue to see population declines. But the tiny town of Preston, Kan., is getting help from an unlikely source: An Arizona mortician who has set up shop there and hopes to draw business from a 50-mile radius.

The abysmal job market is making it hard for some to start making student loan payments, which come due this month for May graduates. A new law could ease the pain for some: It limits monthly payments to 15 percent of a graduate's income.

Gold prices have soared this year — largely because the U.S. dollar has gotten weaker. Investors have been looking at gold as a better bet than the dollar. And the expectation is that the dollar will stay weak because of low U.S. interest rates. That means investors — including governments — will likely continue pouring their money into the gold market.

Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation's economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010, but they predict consumers will continue to keep a tight rein on spending, according to a new survey.

The University of Akron said it could ask new workers for a DNA sample to run background checks. But an anti-discrimination law that went into full effect Nov. 21 prevents employers from requiring workers to share genetic information.

The international economy is still fragile and vulnerable to shocks despite recent improvements in financial markets, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the worst of the economic crisis has passed but problems remain.

One of the busiest passenger rail trains in the nation is getting a new engine — a greener engine. In California, Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, which runs between San Jose and Sacramento, is starting to use a cleaner-burning diesel engine. The new technology cuts harmful emissions in half.

Internet sensation Susan Boyle's debut album is out in the United Kingdom. It will be available in the U.S. Tuesday. It's called "I Dreamed a Dream." It's her signature song, which is from the musical Les Miserable. A British newspaper critic has panned it. Amazon.com says the album is its biggest ever pre-ordered CD.

Barnes & Noble says shoppers who have pre-ordered its new digital reader may not receive it until January. Sony says one of its new e-readers also is in short supply. Analysts say the companies underestimated the demand. Amazon is in a good position. The online retailer had shortages of its reader last year, but this year it says it has plenty in stock.

In recent years, budgets for permanent foreign staffs have been slashed in all but a handful of newsrooms. GlobalPost, an upstart online news outlet that relies on a network of more than 70 part-time contributors in 50 countries, is making the case for a new for-profit model for covering the world.

A Charlotte, N.C., construction firm is among an increasing number of small companies trying a strategy that makes the firing process a bit gentler. It's called "attached unemployment," a kind of temporary layoff aimed at softening the blow of job cuts.

The tax deduction for mortgage interest is a cherished benefit for millions of Americans, but most economists think it's a bad idea. One of those economists, Dennis Ventry of the University of California-Davis, talks to host Guy Raz about the history of the deduction, and why the odds of changing it are so long.

We're headed into the year's biggest travel week, and there's not much bigger than what's sitting in the port of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., right now. It's called the Oasis of the Seas, and it's the largest cruise ship ever built — five times the size of the Titanic, with a price tag of $1.5 billion.

Billionaire investor Raj Rajaratnam was arrested last month and charged with running the biggest insider trading scheme involving a hedge fund. Twenty people from across corporate America have now been charged or arrested in connection with the case, and the scandal now involves some of the country's best-known companies. Host Liane Hansen speaks with Joanna Chung, U.S. financial correspondent for the Financial Times.

The Obama administration has launched the Financial Fraud Task Force to investigate issues related to the economic crisis. The Department of Justice will lead the task force's efforts to combat fraud in such areas as mortgage lending, stimulus spending and the government's bailout of the financial sector. Host Liane Hansen talks with Department of Justice Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, who will be one of the leaders of the task force.

Despite being the country that invented the Internet, America lags far behind nations like Japan and South Korea in broadband speed and access. Guy Raz checks in with Thomas Bleha, author of the book Overtaken on the Information Superhighway, to find out why.

Dozens of demonstrators who barricaded themselves inside a campus building at the University of California, Berkeley in a protest over fee hikes and budget cuts were removed late Friday, bringing the daylong occupation to an end, university officials said.

As it gets more difficult to see a primary care doctor, walk-in medical centers are picking up the slack. And if Congress succeeds in passing a nationwide health insurance mandate, the urgent care industry expects even more growth.

Boeing has moved to South Carolina from its ancestral home in the Pacific Northwest to build the 787 Dreamliner. The company will spend less on labor and receive more than $175 million in state incentives. But it will have to train a new workforce, which Boeing's Seattle unions predict may be the undoing of the Southern operation.

The Washington Times has long thought to be immune from the economic forces challenging the rest of newspaper industry because of the deep pockets of its founder and owner, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, head of the Unification Church. But the recession has taken a toll on the paper and now an apparent power struggle among Moon's sons is adding to the paper's challenges.

Bon Jovi is at the top of the album charts this week, riding an unprecedented publicity push. His record label struck a deal with the conglomerate NBC Universal for an exclusive presence on their many TV networks, including appearances on Today, Inside the Actors Studio and The Tonight Show.

Just because they're masters of the universe doesn't mean the people of Goldman Sachs don't care about their fellow man. Fairly or not, the investment bank, which reported a $3.2 billion third-quarter profit, is perceived by many as a company that places profits and political power ahead of the general good.