| By Sam Tremayne | Thursday, November 29th 2012, 17:37 GMT |
Nelson Piquet Jr will make his Daytona 24 Hours next year after signing with Action Express Racing.
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| By Pablo Elizalde | Thursday, November 29th 2012, 16:58 GMT |
Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes the controversy over Sebastian Vettel's overtaking move in the Brazilian Grand Prix is a "complete joke"
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| By Scott Mitchell | Thursday, November 29th 2012, 18:33 GMT |
Rick Kelly will drive Nissan's new V8 Supercar challenger for the first time this weekend
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| By Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, November 28th 2012, 17:18 GMT |
Maria de Villota underwent further surgery last week following her dramatic accident during testing for the Marussia team
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| By Sam Tremayne | Wednesday, November 28th 2012, 18:02 GMT |
Michael Laverty and Yonny Hernandez have both been named as Paul Bird riders in the provisional 2013 MotoGP entry list.
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| By Sam Tremayne and Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, November 28th 2012, 18:53 GMT |
Red Bull boss Christian Horner admits he was impressed by the way Sebastian Vettel managed to keep his focus and rise above the 'gamesmanship' of rival teams
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, November 27th 2012, 16:11 GMT |
Pirelli hopes that a decision on whether or not it will continue as Formula 1's tyre supplier for 2014 can be made well before next June's deadline
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| By Michele Lostia and Matt Beer | Tuesday, November 27th 2012, 17:17 GMT |
Valentino Rossi hopes his victory in last weekend's Monza Rally marks the start of an upsurge in his fortunes ahead of his return to the Yamaha MotoGP team
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| By Sam Tremayne and Matt Beer | Tuesday, November 27th 2012, 17:58 GMT |
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has thanked Michael Schumacher for his 'gracious' gesture of handing sixth place to Sebastian Vettel at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 26th 2012, 16:59 GMT |
Red Bull believes it can be even stronger in Formula 1 next year as it targets yet more world championship success
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 26th 2012, 17:08 GMT |
Ferrari is confident that it will be able to provide Fernando Alonso with a car that is capable of winning the Formula 1 championship next year after his near-miss in 2012
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| By Matt Beer | Monday, November 26th 2012, 18:08 GMT |
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo wants his team to undertake a full analysis of its organisation and practices to ensure it does not repeat the poor start that cost it in the 2012 Formula 1 title race.
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| Sunday, November 25th 2012, 21:37 GMT |
Brazil Sunday quotes: Ferrari
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'); if (google_ads[0].type == "text") { for(i=0; i '; } s += '' + '' + '' + google_ads[i].line1 + '| Sunday, November 25th 2012, 21:40 GMT |
Brazil Sunday quotes: Red Bull
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'); if (google_ads[0].type == "text") { for(i=0; i '; } s += '' + '' + '' + google_ads[i].line1 + '| By Jonathan Noble | Sunday, November 25th 2012, 21:52 GMT |
Red Bull boss Christian Horner labelled the Brazilian Grand Prix as the most stressful race he had experienced in his career.
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| By Edd Straw and Matt Beer | Saturday, November 24th 2012, 20:22 GMT |
Kimi Raikkonen reckons his Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying would have been much more competitive had he not lost significant practice mileage to engine problems.
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| Saturday, November 24th 2012, 20:52 GMT |
Brazil Saturday quotes: Lotus
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'); if (google_ads[0].type == "text") { for(i=0; i '; } s += '' + '' + '' + google_ads[i].line1 + '| By Edd Straw and Matt Beer | Saturday, November 24th 2012, 21:15 GMT |
Kamui Kobayashi thinks he might still have an opportunity to remain in Formula 1 with another team despite losing his Sauber seat to Esteban Gutierrez.
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Post-Thanksgiving online discounts were once relegated to Cyber Monday -- but these days, websites are launching deals even before Black Friday. And the resulting shopping frenzy is expected to set records.
IBM Benchmark reported total online sales for Black Friday were up nearly 21% from last year. On Thanksgiving, sales rose more than 17% compared to 2011. Black Friday was the stronger of the two days, eclipsing Thanksgiving by 4:10 p.m. ET.
And a long list of retailers -- including Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500), Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) and Ann Taylor (ANN) -- unveiled "pre-Black Friday deals" even before Thanksgiving. Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) posted its one-day online shopping discounts on Black Friday, as did beauty brand MAC Cosmetics.
"We've absolutely seen this whole weekend turn into one big promotional event," said Jay Henderson, strategy director for IBM Smarter Commerce. "Black Friday deals are no longer just for the [brick-and-mortar] store, and Cyber Monday deals are no longer just for Monday."
Related: 7 apps for holiday deals
Cyber Monday's original appeal, as the first weekday after Thanksgiving, was access to quick Internet speeds while at work. But now broadband at home is ubiquitous, and consumers can also shop on a slew of mobile devices.
And so retailers' online deals stretch well ahead of Cyber Monday -- in some cases, nearly a full week before.
"Retailers are trying to draw consumers in earlier, and one way to do that is to stagger the deals: Pre-Thanksgiving, some on Thanksgiving Day, another set over the weekend, and finally the big bang to close it out on Cyber Monday," Henderson said.
Mobile devices have become increasingly important during that week before Cyber Monday. The number of consumers using their mobile device to make a purchase on Black Friday this year increased by nearly two-thirds from 2011, IBM data show.
Apple's iPad made up nearly 10% of online shopping traffic on Black Friday this year, according to IBM, while the iPhone brought in almost 9% and Android devices comprised 5.5%.
And IBM said shoppers are taking advantage of the technology to find better deals. Despite spending more overall, the average online order fell 4.7% to $181.22, and the number of items in each order decreased 12% to 5.6.
Retailers are taking note. Companies like Macy's (M, Fortune 500) and Target (TGT, Fortune 500) developed special Black Friday mobile apps featuring exclusive deals and store maps.
Still, despite the expanded schedule, Cyber Monday itself remains an important part of the holiday shopping season.
Related: Holiday shopping forecast: Stronger, and predictably crazy
Andrew Lipsman, an industry analyst at data tracking firm ComScore, said he expects sales for the one-day Cyber Monday shopping event to be around $1.5 billion this year. That's up from his calculations of $1.3 billion in 2011.
It will be a few weeks before full details on Thanksgiving week's sales are made clear, but last year both Black Friday and Cyber Monday broke records. Total spending over the four-day weekend after Thanksgiving 2011 reached a record $52.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
Black Friday 2012 was shaping up to be robust, with shoppers turning out even on Thanksgiving Day at stores including Toys R Us and Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500). 
First Published: November 23, 2012: 12:08 PM ET
Shoppers visit a Bharti Wal-Mart in India.
HONG KONG (CNNMoney) -- Wal-Mart has suspended the chief financial officer of its expanding India unit while the company investigates alleged corrupt business practices.
The mega-retailer said in early November it was broadening its investigation regarding allegations of potential Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations in Mexico to include India, China and Brazil.
A spokesman for the company in India, which operates as a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, said the suspension of the CFO was related to the investigation but declined to provide additional details.
Wal-Mart representatives in the United States did not return a request for comment.
The suspension comes at a crucial time for the world's top retailer. India lifted restrictions on Wal-Mart and other major retailers in September, as it introduced some of the most aggressive economic reforms in decades.
For reformers, the changes mean an end of policy stagnation, and a political victory over opposition leaders who fear large retailers will force the closure of small, family-owned shops.
Related: Wal-Mart's 6 biggest blunders
The broader Wal-Mart investigation stems from allegations that Eduardo Castro-Wright, the former CEO of Wal-Mart de Mexico and former head of Wal-Mart U.S., orchestrated $24 million worth of bribes in Mexico to secure construction permits. The allegations were reported in a New York Times article.
"We will not tolerate noncompliance anywhere or at any level of the company," Wal-Mart said in a statement issued in mid-November. "We are working diligently to strengthen our compliance programs and dedicating considerable resources to this effort."
First Published: November 23, 2012: 3:36 AM ET
NEW YORK (Money Magazine) -- My husband is 41 and currently has his money invested in a low-return money market account. Given our age, I think we should put our money into more aggressive funds. But my husband is very leery of any kind of gamble, which is how he views the stock market. What do you suggest? -- S.M., Juneau, Alaska
It makes perfect sense for your husband to keep a reserve for emergencies and such in an FDIC-insured money market account. But if he's investing all of your money that way, including dough that you'll be counting on for long-term goals like retirement, then he's probably being way too cautious.
But you need to be careful about how you deal with this issue. His fear about losing money in the market is understandable given some of the tumbles stocks have taken over the past dozen years.
So you want to acknowledge his legitimate concern, but at the same show that he may be taking an even bigger gamble by investing too conservatively.
Related: Retirement investing in uncertain times
Here's an example that may help bring him around. Let's say a 41-year-old who earns $60,000 a year already has $100,000 saved for retirement in a 401(k) or similar savings vehicle and with his own contributions, plus the employer match, adds 15% of salary to that account each year. Let's further assume that this person would like to retire at 67 -- the age a 41-year-old today will be eligible to collect his full Social Security benefit -- and live on 75% of his pre-retirement salary.
So the question is, how does that 41-year-old's investing strategy affect his odds of pulling this off?
To find out, I ran several scenarios through an online retirement income calculator that, among other things, allows you to plug in different allocations of stocks, bonds and cash to see how your chances of achieving a secure retirement go up or down.
I started by assuming the $100,000, plus all future contributions would be invested the way your husband prefers: 100% in cash. The probability that investing this way would provide a combination of draws from savings plus Social Security equal to 75% of his pre-retirement salary between the ages of 67 and 95 was just 2%.
That's right. A 2% chance. Not exactly comforting.
I then stepped things up a bit but only slightly, assuming a portfolio invested 100% in bonds. The outlook was better, 31%, but I doubt that most people would say a one-in-three chance inspires confidence.
Next, I began throwing some stocks into the mix. By investing just 10% into a diversified portfolio of stocks and leaving the rest in bonds, the probability of success jumped to 47%.
With 30% in stocks, the prospects improved even more to 69%, and a 50-50 portfolio, yielded a bit more than a three-in-four chance, or 76%.
Interestingly, the likelihood of success inched up only a smidgen, to 78%, when I tried a portfolio of 70% stocks and 30% bonds.
Related: Make your retirement savings last
And going to an 80% stocks-20% bonds portfolio didn't increase the chances. They remained at 78% (although with both the 70-30 and 80-20 portfolios, I assumed the allocation changed to 50-50 at retirement, as I doubt many retirees would want to remain so heavily invested in stocks once they've retired).
The fact that the chances of success plateaued at 78% in this example doesn't mean that adding more stocks can't improve your odds of retirement success.
It's likely that going to 70% or 80% stocks would result in a larger nest egg that could support even larger withdrawals so that you might be able to live on more than 75% of your pre-retirement salary. But going to ever-higher stock allocations also has a price. Your portfolio will get whacked harder during market downturns, and a setback on the eve of retirement could prove especially problematic.
It's important to remember that all these percentages are estimates, not guarantees.
But based on the returns of stocks, bonds and cash equivalents over very long periods, it's extremely unlikely that an all-cash portfolio would outperform a diversified group of stocks and bonds over a span of two decades or more. That's no accident. That's the way the markets work given the risk and reward potential of different investments.
So what should your husband make of this little example?
The main lesson is that by keeping all his money in cash he is gambling with his retirement -- that is, jeopardizing his chances of building a nest egg large enough to maintain the standard of living he enjoyed during his career throughout retirement.
But another important takeaway is that he doesn't have to go banzai with stocks to do a lot better. Even a little exposure to stocks can have a big impact on returns over many years.
Related: Your pension: Lump sum vs. monthly payments
So while your husband's anxiety about stocks' volatility might prevent him from putting 70% to 80% of his portfolio in equities -- which is the percentage that many advisers would recommend for someone his age -- maybe he'd be willing to try between 30% and 50% for the payoff of greater retirement security down the road.
Of course, if he's intent on sticking with cash, there is another way he can boost his chances of success. He can save more. But he'd better be prepared to really sock it away.
In the example above, our 41-year-old would need to save 30% a year in an all-cash portfolio in order to have the same shot at retiring at 67 on 75% of his salary as he would saving 15% annually and splitting his money evenly between stocks and bonds.
Even if you could manage such a prodigious feat, diverting such a large chunk of income into savings year after year would seriously impinge on your ability to enjoy life.
So I suggest you go over this column with your husband and see if you can arrive at a compromise that allows you both to feel better while also improving your financial prospects. Otherwise, your hubby better start doing some heavy-duty saving.
First Published: November 23, 2012: 6:30 AM ET
Business climate index from Munich's Ifo Institute shows first gain since March
LONDON (CNNMoney) -- The German economy is showing signs of resilience, after growth slowed in the third quarter, as companies look beyond the eurozone crisis to brighter prospects in China and the United States.
The Ifo business climate index published Friday rose to 101.4 in November, from 100 in October, showing its first month-on-month gain since March.
Companies expressed greater satisfaction with their current situation and were slightly less pessimistic about the future.
"The German economy is holding up in the face of the euro crisis," said Ifo Institute president Hans-Werner Sinn.
German growth has been hampered by the recession in the eurozone, with gross domestic product expanding by just 0.2% in the third quarter, compared with 0.3% in the second and 0.5% in the first.
Related: Eurozone risks on the rise
Economists expect Europe's powerhouse to contract in the fourth quarter. But the Ifo survey of some 7,000 companies in manufacturing and trade suggests it should avoid following many of its regional trading partners into recession.
"To the contrary, the creeping decoupling from the rest of the eurozone -- only one third of German exports currently go to eurozone peers -- enables the economy to benefit quickly from any rebound of the global economy," said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING. "In this regard, latest signs of improvement from the US and China were good news for German companies."
China posted third quarter GDP growth at an annual rate of 7.4%, way below its long-term average of around 10%. But recent data point to a rebound in the fourth quarter.
HSBC's purchasing managers' index published Thursday showed China factory output accelerating.
U.S. growth picked up in the third quarter and there is evidence of a sustained recovery in the housing sector.
Related: Service sector adds to eurozone gloom
But the German economy still faces considerable headwinds, as reflected in deteriorating confidence in the country's service sector.
PMI data this week showed the sharpest fall in activity in Germany's services industry since June 2009. The outlook was the most pessimistic since March 2009, as firms worried about leaner client budgets and the impact of the eurozone crisis on investment decisions.
Ifo's separate survey of some 2,500 service sector firms confirmed that the outlook was deteriorating. The overall climate reading slipped to 8.5 in November, down from 9.1 in October.
First Published: November 23, 2012: 7:16 AM ET
Click on chart for more premarkets data.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stock futures were slightly higher Friday, as investors watched the nation's shopping malls for signs of consumer strength in the holiday shopping season.
Little major news is expected in the United States on Friday's holiday-shortened trading day, so investors will be turning their attention to Europe and the continued questions over Greece's finances.
European finance ministers failed to finalize the details of a debt-reduction package for Greece before the close of their meeting Wednesday. The officials had been expected to agree to release the funds for Greece so it would be able to make payments due in December.
Many Americans have already gotten their holiday bargains for Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the shopping season. Leading retailers Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) and Target (TGT, Fortune 500) opened at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, and big crowds were reported at those stores and others.
During a Friday morning interview with CNN, Toys "R" US CEO Jerry Storch said the long lines at stores were probably a sign that "people do feel a little more relaxed about the economy." Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren, also speaking on CNN, said he enjoyed watching the "stream of humanity" flow into his stores.
As Gallup noted, though, fewer than one in five Americans plan to partake in the Black Friday madness.
U.S. markets were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving. Stocks finished higher Wednesday as investors focused on positive U.S. economic numbers.
Fear & Greed Index
European stocks were higher in morning trading. Asian markets closed with gains.
Companies: Shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) were up more than 11% in premarket trading following a report by Canadian brokerage firm National Bank Financial that anticipates sales of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone, due to roll out early next year, will be better than expected.
Hostess Brands received approval from a bankruptcy judge Wednesday to shut down and begin selling off its assets.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, British pound and Japanese yen.
Oil for January delivery eased 32 cents to $87.06 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery climbed $5.50 to $1,733.70 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged higher, cutting the yield to 1.68% from 1.69% late Wednesday.
First Published: November 23, 2012: 5:30 AM ET
Wal-Mart's mega-sale started at 8:00 p.m., two hours earlier than last year.
PITTSBURGH (CNNMoney) -- Wal-Mart workers stood sentry by stacks of products -- vacuums, blankets, Hello Kitty bedspreads -- marked with signs reading "Merchandise not available until 8 p.m. Thursday."
Black Friday came early for Wal-Mart this year, with stores across the country opening their doors to bargain hunters at 8 p.m. Thursday evening, up from 10 p.m. last year.
At the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pittsburgh's Robinson Township -- equipped with a McDonald's, a pharmacy and a Tire & Lube -- doors are open 24 hours a day. So, rather than camping outside Thursday night, customers circled the displays and formed lines in the aisles, waiting for 8:00 p.m. to strike.
Nationwide, an estimated 147 million shoppers plan to shop this weekend, according to the industry trade group the National Retail Federation.
At the Wal-Mart in Pittsburgh, the big draws were TVs and Xbox games, including the new Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
As the clock ticked down, the signs were removed and the crowds moved in.
"At 8:00, it was just a free-for-all," said Vanessa Moore, 36, of Steubenville, Ohio.
"This year I brought my dad. It's his first time, and I think it'll be his last time," she added with a laugh.
Related: Shorter lines, but bigger checks on Black Friday
For a few items, including iPads and Blu-ray players, Wal-Mart offered "in-stock guarantees," ensuring that customers who arrived between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. had the chance to buy them. By 8:00 p.m., lines had already snaked throughout the store, partitioned by caution tape, for these big-ticket products.
"If you were a single person coming out here by yourself, you couldn't get what you want, because you've got to stand in line in different places for different stuff," said Shawauna Kelly, 26, of Pittsburgh.
The shoppers were descending ahead of walkouts that organizers say will hit Wal-Marts nationwide. Union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Wal-Mart, along with watchdog group Corporate Action Network, are calling on the country's largest employer to end what they call retaliation against employees who speak out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care.
Related: Wal-mart workers get ready for Black Friday protest
The planned walkouts build on an October strike that started at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles and spread to stores in 12 other cities. More than 100 workers joined the October actions.
Wal-Mart, in a statement issued Friday, said there were protests at 26 stores, but that only about 50 of its 1.3-million workers took part. It said about the same number of employees missed scheduled shifts this year as did last year.
There was no sign of demonstrations at the store in Pittsburgh on Thursday evening, and a store employee said he had heard of them only through the media.
Among customers, a source of controversy was the earlier opening time.
"They shouldn't do this anymore -- it's horrible," said Kayla Edwell, 45, of Pittsburgh. "Let people spend time with their families."
Edwell was there along with her mother to do Christmas shopping, in the market for Xbox games and remote-control cars.
"As long as people come, they'll do this, and it's hard not to come if you can get some good prices," her mother, Shirley Edwell, said.
Related: Toys R Us shoppers choose deals first, turkey later
Zach Mullenax, 23, was in better spirits, calling the earlier opening time "excellent."
"It's more convenient," he said. "I don't have to wake up at 3:00 in the morning."
As for the employees, one expressed frustration at the earlier opening, saying, "It's Thanksgiving. I don't have to say any more."
But another said it wasn't an issue, taking a more fatalistic approach.
"Even when we opened on Black Friday, you'd have to come here Thursday night," he said. "All the stores are doing it, and if people are going out, you might as well stay open."
First Published: November 23, 2012: 3:55 AM ET
Click chart for more market data.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks wrapped up Black Friday more than 1%, inking the fifth straight day of gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq closed up between 1.3% and 1.4% on a post-Thanksgiving shortened trading day. All three indexes ended the week up more than 3%, racking up five straight days of gains. The Dow closed above 13,000 for the first time since Election Day.
Investors were cheered by the sight of busy shopping malls on the kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Leading retailers Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) and Target (TGT, Fortune 500) opened at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, and large crowds were reported at those stores and others.
During a Friday morning interview with CNN, Toys "R" US CEO Jerry Storch said the long lines at stores were probably a sign that "people do feel a little more relaxed about the economy." Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren, also speaking on CNN, said he enjoyed watching the "stream of humanity" flow into his stores.
Shares of Macy's Inc (M, Fortune 500), Wal-Mart and Target were higher Friday, as were the stocks of other prominent retailers such Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500) and Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500).
Related: Black Friday shoppers out in full force
Besides Black Friday retail sales, there was little else to move the markets Friday. But investors also stayed focused on Europe and the continued questions over Greece's finances.
European finance ministers failed to finalize the details of a debt-reduction package for Greece before the close of their meeting Wednesday. The officials had been expected to agree to release the funds for Greece so it would be able to make payments due in December.
U.S. markets were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving. Stocks finished higher Wednesday as investors focused on positive U.S. economic numbers.
Fear & Greed Index
European stocks and Asian markets both closed with gains.
Companies: Shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) moved up nearly 15% following a report by Canadian brokerage firm National Bank Financial that anticipates sales of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone, due to roll out early next year, will be better than expected.
Hostess Brands received approval from a bankruptcy judge Wednesday to shut down and begin selling off its assets.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, British pound and Japanese yen.
Oil for January delivery rose 77 cents to $88.15 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery climbed $23.20 to $1,751.40 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury stayed put at 1.68%.
First Published: November 23, 2012: 9:39 AM ET
RIM, and CEO Thorsten Heins, have spent months assuring that BlackBerry 10 is worth the wait -- and investors appear optimistic.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hating BlackBerry has become something of a bloodsport, but Research in Motion shares have been on an incredible tear for the past two months -- and the RIM rally continued Friday after a bullish analyst report.
National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson upped his price target on the stock and his predictions for product shipments in 2014. RIM (RIMM) shares closed 14% higher Friday as a result.
Last week, RIM announced that its long-delayed BlackBerry 10 operating system will finally debut on January 30, a year after the company's next-generation smartphones and software were slated to go on sale.
RIM initially said its new BlackBerry 10 software and devices would be available at the beginning of 2012. The company first delayed that to the end of 2012, and then again to the beginning of 2013.
The new operating system is meant to be the crown jewel of the company's turnaround, so the delays were incredibly troublesome. Some critics wondered if RIM would even survive long enough to launch BlackBerry 10.
Related story: RIM's fate hangs on BlackBerry 10
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has spent the past few months assuring naysayers that the software will launch in early 2013, and that it will be worth the wait.
Investors appear to be growing more optimistic as well. RIM shares have gained an astounding 59% over the past two months.
That jump is even more remarkable when compared with the slump Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) suffered in the same two-month period. The smartphone king hit bear-market status this month, falling to an intra-day low of about $506 last Friday -- down nearly $200 from the all-time high it hit on September 21.
The Apple sell-off comes after an incredible runup over the past few years -- and during a tumultuous time in the broader stock market on concerns about the fiscal cliff and Europe's continued debt crisis.
First Published: November 23, 2012: 9:56 AM ET
Target shoppers were going after doorbuster deals on electronics, particularly the televisions. Home good, including blankets and bed sheets, were also popular.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Shoppers turned out in droves at malls and big-box stores around the country to take advantage of Black Friday deals, as retailers opened their doors earlier than ever on Thanksgiving. According to early estimates, the late evening openings are paying off.
"Like pumpkin pie and football, Thanksgiving Day shopping is quickly becoming a holiday tradition for millions of Americans," said National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay. "Steady streams of shoppers have already flooded outlets, malls and other stores throughout the country and shopped online from the convenience of their couch to kick off the holiday season."
Toys R Us, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) and Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500) all got a head start on the big shopping weekend by opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. That's even earlier than last year, when the toy retailer kicked things off at 9 p.m. and Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, opened at 10 p.m. Sears opened at 4 a.m. last year.
"By opening even earlier, the retailers have been able to attract a broader spectrum of consumers to participate in Black Friday -- not everyone is willing to wake up at 4 a.m.," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group. "They definitely got a lot more business early and upfront."
Related: Cyber Monday starts early this year
As a result of the early surge in shoppers, Cohen expects total Black Friday sales to be up between 2% and 3% from last year.
But by Sunday morning, Cohen anticipates that shopper traffic will fall back to levels typically seen during an October weekend. "There are more hours to shop, but consumers don't have more relatives or more money in their pocket, so once all the dust settles, we won't see too much growth overall," he said.
For the entire holiday season, Cohen expects sales will rise between 1% and 2%.
NRF, on the other hand, is more optimistic. It estimates that holiday sales will increase by 4.1%.
Black Friday traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping season. Stores consider it to be the most important time of the year because they can make up to 40% of their annual sales in the November-December period.
Retailers encouraged by early traffic. Malls were seeing more shoppers than ever before, said Les Morris, spokesman for Simon Property Group (SPG), which operates 160 malls throughout the country.
The parking lot at Simon's Cincinnati Premium Outlets in Monroe, Ohio, was full by 10 p.m. Thursday. Meanwhile, store managers at its Jersey Shore Premium Outlets in Tinton Falls, N.J., an area hit hard by Superstorm Sandy, were pleased with the strong traffic, which caused a three-mile backup on the Garden State Parkway.
La Plaza Mall in McAllen, Texas, had to use its off-duty police officers and security to control traffic outside of stores.
"Many stores including Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) had to close their store entrances temporarily as they had reached capacity with hundreds of shoppers waiting to enter the stores," said Isabel Rodriguez-Vera, area director of marketing.
Crowds kept coming into the afternoon, with malls in Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Massachusetts reporting long lines at checkouts and full parking lots.
Related: Confessions of extreme Black Friday shoppers
The crowd at the Toys R Us in New York's Times Square started gathering about four hours ahead of its open, said CEO Jerry Storch.
Shoppers were excited for the more than 200 doorbusters and other deals, particularly on items like the Nintendo WiiU and a "buy one, get one for $1" deal on video games. But many had to rearrange their Thanksgiving dinner plans in order to take advantage of them.
New York City resident Shay Brown, 25, who spent Thanksgiving with relatives in Pittsburgh, headed to the Wal-Mart in Robinson Township for Black Friday shopping with her family, but wasn't thrilled about the early opening time.
"We could have been sitting around enjoying each others' company, but instead we had to rush here to get the deals," said Shay, who was shopping for DVDs.
Fellow Wal-Mart shopper Vanessa Moore, 36, however, welcomed the 8 p.m. opening. "I actually like that they're doing it on Thursday, because after you're done eating, there's really nothing to do," said the Steubenville, Ohio, resident.
Wal-Mart worker protests: As shoppers stormed the shelves at Wal-Mart stores nationwide, hundreds of people outside -- including some employees -- took part in Black Friday protests. They claim the retailer retaliates against those who speak out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care.
According to organizers from the union-backed group OUR Walmart, hundreds of workers and thousands of supporters rallied in Landover Hills, Md., Miami, Oakland, Calif., Chicago, Danville, Ky., Dallas and Kenosha, Wis. The organizers say the protests will continue throughout the day.
But Wal-Mart said the disruptions were minimal. "We had very safe and successful Black Friday events at our stores across the country," said Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon in a statement. "Only 26 protests occurred at stores last night, and many of them did not include any Wal-Mart associates."
Related: Wal-Mart: Crowded, and not everyone is smiling
Simon added that less than 50 Wal-Mart workers participated in the protests nationwide, and roughly the same number of associates missed their scheduled shift as last year. The company said it did not experience any walk-offs.
Overall, Wal-Mart said this year marked its "best ever Black Friday events," and its stores welcomed a larger crowd of shoppers than last year. During its initial four opening hours on Thanksgiving, the retailer processed nearly 10 million register transactions, and almost 5,000 items per second.
The hottest deals: Deals on home furnishings and appliances were particularly popular this year, in addition to sweaters, boots and electronics.
At Macy's, Black & Decker waffle makers were among the items to sell out early, said Nick Nicolosi, the general manager at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Ga. Shoppers also rushed to buy Keurig coffee makers and travel luggage.
At Target (TGT, Fortune 500), consumers were going after doorbuster deals on electronics, particularly TVs, said spokesman Joshua Thomas. Home goods, including blankets and bed sheets, were also popular.
The hottest item at Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) was a 40-inch Toshiba LCD on sale for $179.99, down almost 60% from its original price. Tablets and smartphones were also big sellers, said Best Buy spokesman Jeff Haydock.
Related: The hottest Black Friday stores
Limited Brands (LTD, Fortune 500)' Victoria's Secret also invited large crowds. At North Grand Mall in Ames, Iowa, hoodies and yoga pants sold out within five minutes, according to a spokeswoman, and in Lufkin, Texas, the checkout lines stretched to the door even at 2 a.m., two hours after the opening.
The manager at the Victoria's Secret store in Town East Mall in Mesquite, Texas, said sales at the location have far surpassed last year.
Disney (DIS ) Stores, most of which opened at midnight, were also luring large crowds. Paul Gainer, executive vice president of Global Disney Store, said lines started forming at 11:30 p.m. ET, and overall traffic improved from last year.
Disney has been offering the exact same deals to online shoppers throughout the week. Gainer said Disneystore.com is seeing double-digit gains in traffic, and expects that to continue as the online store maintains its "Magic Friday" prices throughout the day and gears up for Cyber Monday.
Shoppers also hit other online stores hard on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Online shopping sales on Thanksgiving Day were up more than 17% from 2011, according to IBM, and Black Friday online sales rose nearly 24% compared to last year. Consumers purchasing online from a mobile device topped 14%.
-- CNNMoney's Emily Jane Fox, Annalyn Kurtz, Les Christie and James O'Toole contributed to this article.
First Published: November 23, 2012: 6:00 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hundreds of people -- including some employees -- have taken part in Black Friday demonstrations at Wal-Mart stores nationwide, protesting what they say is the retailer's retaliation against speaking out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care.
According to organizers from the union-backed group OUR Walmart, hundreds of workers and thousands of supporters rallied across 100 cities, including Landover Hills, Md., Miami, Oakland, Calif., Chicago, Danville, Ky., Dallas and Kenosha, Wis.
Wal-Mart pushed back, saying it knew of only a "few dozen" protests, and that most of the protesters were not its employees
In one of the biggest protests, nine people were arrested outside of a Paramount, Calif., Wal-Mart store for failing to disperse, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department statement. An OUR Walmart spokesman said three of those arrested were Wal-Mart workers. Those arrested were to be released without bail, unless they had previous arrest warrants.
The sheriff's department said about 1,000 people arrived by bus and private vehicles to participate in the Paramount protest, which was characterized as peaceful.
In Landover Hills, near Washington. D.C. ,organizers said about 350 people participated, although video of the event showed around 100 participants. Dawn Le, who works for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which backs OUR Walmart, would not say how many of those taking part were Wal-Mart employees.
Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), in a statement late Friday, said worker absenteeism was down more than 60% from last year.
"We had our best Black Friday ever and OUR Walmart was unable to recruit more than a small number of associates to participate in these made for TV events," said David Tovar, vice president of corporate communications, in the statement. "Press reports are now exposing what we have said all along -- the large majority of protesters aren't even Walmart workers."
Janna Pea, an OUR Wal-Mart organizer in Dallas, said about 40 workers and about 150 supporters took part in a protest Thursday night.
One of those with her was Josue Mata, who says he walked off his job as an overnight maintenance employee to protest retaliation against people who want to speak out.
"I have four kids and I don't want them to grown up in a society where people disrespect them," he said. "This is a never-ending fight and we're never going to stop."
Related: Wal-Mart: Crowded, and not everyone is smiling.
Mata said he plans to return to work for his next scheduled shift on Sunday evening.
Pea said her protesters went to four Wal-Mart stores across the Dallas area, and while they were able to picket and speak to customers at half of them, they were asked to leave immediately by police at the others.
"We were still able to talk to customers and educate them about what was going on," she said. "We saw one person who was planning to go shopping, but then didn't end up going in. Instead, they rallied with us."
Muhammed Malik, who helped organize a protest at a Miami Wal-Mart, said roughly 70 workers participated in their hour-long demonstration Thursday night. He said one worker walked off his shift as he saw others rallying outside.
Wal-Mart has denied that it has retaliated against protesting workers, and said Friday that it has offered special holiday discounts to its employees for their efforts this season.
The protests were limited in scope, occurring at a handful of the company's approximately 4,000 U.S. stores. One employee at a store near Pittsburgh told CNNMoney he had heard of the protests only through the media.
Related: Black Friday shoppers out in full force
In an effort to stop the protests, Wal-Mart filed a complaint last week with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming that the demonstrations violated labor laws.
The retailer said the actions have disrupted business, and that the workers' ongoing actions violate the National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits picketing for any period over 30 days without filing a petition to form a union.
On Tuesday, OUR Walmart filed its own charge with the federal agency, claiming that Wal-Mart tried to deter workers from participating in the protests and interfered with their right to speak up.
But the NLRB was not able to rule in time or issue an injunction. Nancy Cleeland, a spokeswoman for the NLRB, said the complaint is too complex to make a ruling so soon.
Despite the talk of the protests, Wal-Mart reported larger Thanksgiving and Black Friday crowds than last year. As of Friday morning, the company said it had processed nearly 10 million register transactions.
Shares of Wal-Mart rose 1.9% in Friday trading.
First Published: November 23, 2012: 11:48 AM ET
| Friday, November 23rd 2012, 20:30 GMT |
Brazil Friday quotes: Lotus
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'); if (google_ads[0].type == "text") { for(i=0; i '; } s += '' + '' + '' + google_ads[i].line1 + '| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, November 23rd 2012, 20:32 GMT |
Ferrari can head into the Brazilian Grand Prix with a level of confidence about its chances of fighting Red Bull wheel-to-wheel after an encouraging opening day of practice, reckons Felipe Massa
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| Friday, November 23rd 2012, 22:15 GMT |
Friday's press conference - Brazil
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'); if (google_ads[0].type == "text") { for(i=0; i '; } s += '' + '' + '' + google_ads[i].line1 + '| By Jonathan Noble | Thursday, November 22nd 2012, 19:09 GMT |
Mercedes is set to abandon its Coanda-effect exhaust for the final race of the season in a bid to try and get a better understanding of its tyre situation.
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| By Glenn Freeman | Thursday, November 22nd 2012, 19:20 GMT |
Kevin Magnussen topped Formula Renault 3.5 testing for the third time since the end of the season, as he led the way on day two of this week's Aragon test.
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| By Matt Beer | Thursday, November 22nd 2012, 19:34 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton admits that his final race with McLaren in Brazil this weekend could be his last chance to win a grand prix in a while.
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| By Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, November 21st 2012, 16:37 GMT |
Formula 3 Euro Series champion Daniel Juncadella will return to GP2 action when he tests again with the Rappax team at Jerez
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| By Michele Lostia and Sam Tremayne | Wednesday, November 21st 2012, 16:44 GMT |
Valentino Rossi admits he learnt nothing during his barren two-year spell with Ducati.
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| By Gary Watkins | Wednesday, November 21st 2012, 17:26 GMT |
The Anglo-Swiss Rebellion LMP1 squad will race full-time in next year's American Le Mans Series in the wake of its victory in the season-ending Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta last month.
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, November 20th 2012, 13:52 GMT |
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh believes that Lewis Hamilton would be fighting for the Formula 1 world championship in Brazil this weekend if the team had got the most out of its car this year
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| By Dan Cross | Tuesday, November 20th 2012, 14:08 GMT |
Jeff Gordon described winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale at Homestead as an ideal apology after the turmoil that ensued following his retaliatory crash with Clint Bowyer at Phoenix
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Sam Tremayne | Tuesday, November 20th 2012, 16:06 GMT |
IndyCar's interim CEO Jeff Belskus has been replaced by Mark Miles as the chief executive officer of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Hulman & Co
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 19th 2012, 15:42 GMT |
Sergio Perez thinks there is nothing he can do to end the scepticism over whether he is the right man to replace Lewis Hamilton at McLaren until he races for the team
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| By Diego Mejia | Monday, November 19th 2012, 16:39 GMT |
Roger Penske believes Brad Keselowski's leadership qualities were pivotal in his team's first NASCAR Sprint Cup title success
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Glenn Freeman | Monday, November 19th 2012, 19:01 GMT |
Champions from eight junior single seater championships lead the entry for this week's Formula Renault 3.5 rookie test at Aragon
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 19th 2012, 00:23 GMT |
Red Bull boss Christian Horner says his team's third consecutive title may be a dream come true for the outfit - but its job for the season is still only half done.
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 19th 2012, 00:36 GMT |
Red Bull has admitted that the latest alternator failure suffered by the team is a 'worry' ahead of the season finale in Brazil.
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| By Diego Mejia | Monday, November 19th 2012, 01:19 GMT |
Brad Keselowski became the first Penske driver to clinch a NASCAR Sprint Cup title with a 15th-place finish at Homestead as Jimmie Johnson retired with a transmission problem and Jeff Gordon took the final win of the 2012 season
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Matt Beer | Saturday, November 17th 2012, 21:56 GMT |
Kimi Raikkonen described Lotus's strong United States Grand Prix qualifying form as a pleasant surprise given how badly it had struggled with tyre issues in practice.
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| By Edd Straw and Pablo Elizalde | Saturday, November 17th 2012, 22:57 GMT |
Marussia's sporting director Graeme Lowdon was surprised Sergio Perez got away without a penalty following his clash with Charles Pic during final practice at Austin
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| By Dieter Rencken and Matt Beer | Saturday, November 17th 2012, 23:11 GMT |
Mercedes stands by its decision to switch Nico Rosberg back to an older car specification for United States Grand Prix qualifying, despite him struggling to 17th on the grid as a result.
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Political leaders disagree over whether President Obama's re-election gave him a "mandate" to raise taxes on the nation's wealthiest Americans.
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- As Congressional leaders and President Obama met for talks about ways to avoid the fiscal cliff, party leaders redefined their hard lines on tax hikes for the wealthy.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a key member of the House Democratic team, said Friday that President Obama's re-election leaves no doubt that Obama has a mandate to raise taxes on the rich.
But top Republicans, including Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam, disagreed. "If the president had a mandate, Nancy Pelosi would be the next Speaker of the House, and that's not going to happen in January," he said. Both Van Hollen and Roskam spoke at a Washington forun sponsored by the Peterson Foundation.
Neither Van Hollen nor Roskam were in the room with President Obama to talk about the fiscal cliff, which starts to take effect Jan. 1, and includes expiration of the Bush tax cuts and $1.2 trillion worth of spending cuts over a decade. But their bosses, House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic leader Pelosi, were in attendance, along with both parties' Senate leaders.
The crux of the controversy is whether to extend the portion of the Bush tax cuts that apply to individual income above $200,000 and married couples' income above $250,000. If they were allowed to expire as scheduled on Dec. 31, the top two income tax rates would increase to 36% and 39.6% next year, up from 33% and 35% this year. Investment tax rates would rise too from their current level of 15%.
White House economic adviser Gene Sperling, who was at the White House talks, reiterated the president's "clear" position: "He's not going to sign an extension of the tax cuts for those over $250,000," he said during the forum.
Roskam said Republicans don't feel obliged to give in the way the president is calling for.
He said Republicans want to know more about how the president will define who is wealthy. In particular, Republicans want consideration for small business owners who file company taxes through their own individual tax returns, which might qualify them as wealthy.
And he said Republicans will push the president for more specifics on spending cuts.
"The president has been litigating the tax question, but there hasn't been any discussion substantively about where the cuts are," Roskam said.
One area that all parties seem to agree is that going over the cliff and allowing the tax hikes and spending cuts to kick is not a top choice.
Sperling called it "economically irresponsible," and Roskam called it a "bucketful of crazy."
First Published: November 16, 2012: 11:29 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hostess Brands is cutting more than 18,000 jobs as it closes its doors for good. Those workers may find it tough to find new work.
All Hostess Brands employees will lose their jobs in the coming weeks, some sooner than others, the company announced Friday. The layoffs span nationwide, and represent a deep cut in mid-wage jobs that often came with benefits. The company had operated 33 bakeries, 565 distribution centers and 570 outlet stores across the country.
Many production workers earned up to $20 an hour, plus had access to medical benefits, according to Michael O'Brien, a former Hostess employee who had worked at the company for 45 years, in various sales functions, before he was offered a buyout last year.
"People inside the plants really made a good living," O'Brien said. "I feel sorry for them."
The company has struggled to keep up with competition and keep peace with its union workers. A recent bakers strike was the final nail in the coffin, the company said.
"We deeply regret taking this action," the company said. "Widespread strikes by the Bakers Union forced us to cease operations because we can longer produce or delivery product."
Related: Hostess Brands closing for good
According to a letter sent to employees, workers will not receive severance pay or pay for unused vacation time. Hostess is directing employees to COBRA for continuing medical insurance coverage.
Striking workers are not entitled to unemployment benefits in most states, but those workers who were not striking will likely have some access to weekly benefit checks.
Meanwhile job opportunities at Hostess competitors are hardly plentiful.
"The industry has overcapacity. We're overcapacity. Our rivals are overcapacity," Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn said in an interview on CNBC.
At least 5,000 of the laid-off workers worked in food production and were represented by the Bakers Union.
Related: The end of Hostess
Nationwide, the entire food manufacturing industry has yet to gain back all the jobs lost in the recession, but the industry has been adding about 1,400 jobs a month over the last year.
Another 6,700 Hostess workers were represented by the Teamsters, a union that was sharply critical of the Bakers' decision to strike. Those jobs largely include truckers, many who both transported and sold Hostess products.
Trucking is a higher paying field, offering a national average of $22 an hour. Including base pay and commission, Hostess Teamsters workers could have earned between $50,000 to $100,000 a year, said O'Brien.
Trucking is also a growing field, adding about 3,900 jobs each month over the past year.
Still, the 18,500 Hostess job cuts are likely to show up in the national jobs report only gradually. Striking workers are likely to be counted as job cuts in the November jobs report, while many of the remaining layoffs are unlikely to show up in the data until the December jobs report is released in January.
-- CNNMoney senior writer Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
First Published: November 16, 2012: 12:46 PM ET
NEW YORK (Money Magazine) -- My company told me it will no longer match a portion of my 401(k) contributions starting next year. It had been contributing 3% of my salary. Should I begin looking for a new employer that offers a match or should I stay where I am? -- Mark, Silver Spring, Md.
You're smart to at least entertain the idea of getting a new job. After all, matching contributions are a form of compensation. So by eliminating its 401(k) match, your employer has effectively cut your pay.
For example, if you pull down $50,000 a year in salary and your company kicks in 3% of that amount to your 401(k) account, you're essentially earning $51,500 a year ($50,000 plus a 3%, or $1,500, match). By doing away with the match, your employer has reduced your compensation from $51,500 to $50,000, a 2.9% hit.
But losing the match doesn't necessarily mean you should jump ship. When you're evaluating a job, you need to take a very broad view. You want to consider not just your salary and 401(k), but your entire compensation package, which includes any other retirement benefits, health and life insurance and other monetary perks (stock options and the like).
You also have to factor in non-financial aspects of the job: vacation time, how your employer treats you and your fellow workers and the satisfaction you derive from your job. And, of course, you don't want to forget about the opportunity for advancement.
In short, you need to assess the whole enchilada and then decide whether, on balance, you're better off staying or taking a job with a new employer.
That said, the timing of your company's move strikes me as a bit unusual. Many companies cut or suspended matching funds to save money during the financial crisis. But the trend lately has been for employers to reinstate matches, not get rid of them.
Indeed, when Charles Schwab recently surveyed companies that offer 401(k) plans it oversees, it found that the percentage of plans providing matching funds was on the rise, climbing to 73% last year after dropping to 67% in 2009.
Related: How do I create an all-American 401(k)?
Ideally, you'd like to find out why your company is going against the grain -- and whether it envisions this move as temporary or permanent.
If jettisoning the match is a response to financial difficulties that could lead to layoffs or less robust salary increases down the road, that's something you'd want to factor into your decision.
Getting a definitive answer on this may be difficult. But if your company is large enough to have a public profile, plugging its ticker symbol into the Search box at the top of this page will give you access to the latest news and financial information about the company. If you work for a company that's too small to have a public profile, some discreet inquiries among fellow employees might shed some light.
You'll also want to take current conditions in the job market into account in deciding to stay put or leave. Although things have been improving lately, the recovery in the job market is still tenuous and the economy overall remains somewhat fragile. So you have to weigh whether you would be better off embarking on a job search now or waiting until the economy and job market begin humming again.
Related: Can I afford to retire early?
While you're mulling these issues, you should also address a more immediate concern: how to prevent the loss of matching funds from undermining your retirement prospects.
You can do that by boosting your own 401(k) contributions. If you're already socking away the maximum 401(k) contribrution allowed by the federal government for your plan, you can always pick up the slack by doing an IRA or even throwing some extra bucks into tax-efficient index funds, ETFs or tax-managed funds in a taxable account.
Granted, kicking in more out of your own pocket could force you to make unwanted cutbacks in your spending. But to the extent you're funneling this extra savings into a regular 401(k) account or a tax-deductible IRA, you can at least take comfort in knowing that you're also trimming your tax bill.
So by all means start scouting out other job possibilities. Who knows? Even in these uncertain times you may find a new position that's attractive enough to warrant a switch. As you're doing that, though, scour your budget for ways to set aside an additional 3% of salary. That way your current pay cut won't also translate to a cut in your retirement income down the road.
First Published: November 16, 2012: 1:33 PM ET
Twinkies and Wonder Bread should survive, though Twinkies and other Hostess snacks will have an easier time finding a buyer.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Twinkies may never die. Wonder Bread probably won't either.
Even after Hostess Brands announced that it is shuttering its operations Friday, the company, which entered bankruptcy protection for the second time in January, is expected to find buyers for its iconic brands that include Twinkies, Ho Ho's, Sno Balls, and Wonder Bread, according to several bankers who spoke on the condition of anonymity since they are preparing potential bids for the company's assets.
A spokesperson for Hostess did not return calls for comment. But bankers said the company will most likely break up its two key divisions: snack foods and the bread retailer.
The Twinkies' unit will probably attract the most potential bidders. Mexican bread company Grupo Bimbo (GRBMF); privately held McKee Foods, which makes Little Debbie snack cakes;Flower Foods (FLO), which owns Tastykake, and Canadian company Weston Foods (WNGRF) are all seen as potential buyers for this division.
Mike Gloekler, a spokesperson for McKee Foods, declined to comment on a potential bid, but said "the most valuable thing Hostess is holding onto is those name brands."
"Somebody is going to be interested in them," Gloekler added.
But the Little Debbie's owner is hoping to take advantage of what could be a temporary shutdown of Twinkies production. Gloekler said that McKee is "preparing our employees to work more hours during the holiday season than they typically would" in order to get more of its snack products to market.
Related: Laid-off Hostess workers face tough job market
Grupo Bimbo, Flower Foods, and Weston Foods did not return calls for comment.
If Wonder Bread does survive, it might have a number of different owners across the U.S.
Grupo Bimbo, which owns the Arnold brand of bread and is currently the number one bread company in the U.S., would likely be banned from making a bid because of antitrust concerns, according to one of the bankers. Flowers Foods, the second largest U.S. bread company, could conceivably buy some of the bread division's regional assets and operations in order to expand its Midwest operations, the banker said. Flowers owns the Nature's Own brand of bread.
Other small regional companies might pick up Wonder Bread's regional assets on an ad hoc basis, sources said.
Fortune's Dan Primack noted that various Hostess brands are also expected to generate interest from the private equity world, even though the company's current owners, private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, is expected to lose its entire investment in Hostess. Ripplewood Holdings purchased part of Hostess after it exited Chapter 11 in 2009.
But the acquisition of Hostess assets may not necessarily help to save the jobs of the company's 18,500 employees, most of which were unionized. By purchasing assets out of a bankruptcy sale, potential acquirers can ignore the company's union obligations and selectively rehire employees on their own terms.
In addition to its high pension guarantees for its union employees, Hostess has struggled as more consumers are interested in healthy snack options. For that reason, Hostess is unlikely to generate interest from large food companies like Kraft (KRFT) or its recent spin-off Mondelez (MDLZ), Frito-Lay owner PepsiCo (PEP, Fortune 500), or General Mills (GIS, Fortune 500), according to sources. Most of these food companies want to either increase their portfolio of healthier snacks or add a global brand. Hostess offers neither.
First Published: November 16, 2012: 2:34 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday that a mild recession would be a "small price to pay" for getting the nation's debt problems under control.
In an interview with CNN's Ali Velshi, Greenspan said cutting spending on "so-called social benefits" would hurt the economy, but argued that it would cause less damage than raising taxes.
"I think if we have to have a moderate recession to solve this huge fiscal problem that's in front of us -- I think that's a very small price to pay," he said. "We're not going to get out of this thing without pain."
Greenspan said he was not referring specifically to the automatic spending cuts and tax increases that are set to go into effect January 1, known as the fiscal cliff, but to the "broad crisis with respect to our debt."
The "inexorable rise" in government spending on social benefits, which occurred under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has corresponded with a decline in household savings, said Greenspan.
Related: Fate of paychecks rests on fiscal cliff
The decline in savings has undermined the economy by removing the "root source" of funding for capital expenditures and therefore productivity, he continued. As the economy has slowed, the government has been forced to borrow "foreign savings" to pay for social benefits at home.
"This is obviously an unsustainable situation that we have got to come to grips with sooner rather than later," he said.
Greenspan acknowledged that cutting spending on benefits would be painful and damage the economy in the short run, but he said there is no other alternative and warned that investors are losing patience.
"I don't see any way out of this without the brute changes that need to be made, and they are hurtful," he said. "But if we don't do it the market is going to do it for us."
While Greenspan said he opposes increasing taxes, he does support allowing Bush-era tax breaks to expire in exchange for a reduction in government spending.
Related: Buffett not worried about fiscal cliff
"If you have to allow a rise in taxes to cut a deal on a major benefit cut, that's a good deal for me," said Greenspan.
President Obama is meeting with top congressional leaders Friday to begin the process of negotiating a solution to the fiscal cliff.
The Wall Street Journal said the Obama administration is considering a plan to replace massive spending cuts with a combination of smaller, targeted cuts and tax increases. By postponing the so-called sequester, lawmakers could put off a number of large deficit-reduction decisions until mid-2013.
First Published: November 16, 2012: 11:32 AM ET
People pass a sign for JPMorgan Chase & Co. at its headquarters in New York City last month.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- JPMorgan and Credit Suisse will together pay more than $400 million to resolve allegations that they misled investors in mortgage-backed securities, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday.
Such securities, which generate cash flows from pools of mortgages, were "ground zero in the financial crisis," SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami said. As the housing market went bust, mortgage-backed-securities generated massive losses for the banks and investors who held them.
JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) will pay $297 million to settle charges that it misstated information about the delinquency status of mortgage loans that were part of a securities offering, as well as allegations related to Bear Stearns, which it acquired in 2008 in a deal backed by the government. Bear Stearns was accused of failing to disclose its practice of collecting cash settlements from mortgage originators for loans that went bad without passing on the proceeds to the investors to whom it had sold the related securities.
Credit Suisse (CS) was charged with doing the same, as well as with making misstatements in its SEC filings about when it would repurchase problem loans from investors. The bank will pay $120 million to settle the charges, after allegedly earning $55 million from settlement collections.
JPMorgan allegedly earned $2.7 million on the securities offering in question, while investors lost $37 million; Bear Stearns allegedly earned $138 million from its settlement collections.
The banks resolved the case without admitting or denying the allegations, as is typical in such settlements.
JPMorgan said it was "pleased to have reached agreement with the SEC." Credit Suisse also said it was "pleased" to resolve the matter, adding that it's "committed to the highest standards of integrity and regulatory compliance in all its businesses."
The case was brought in conjunction with the Obama administration's Residential Mortgage Backed Securities working group, which includes attorneys from the Justice Department, the SEC and the New York Attorney's General's Office. The working group was announced earlier this year with a stated goal of rooting our wrongdoing tied to the financial crisis, but critics say it's done little to hold individuals on Wall Street responsible.
Bear Stearns has provided a number of legal headaches for JPMorgan in the past few years. Last month, New York filed suit against JPMorgan over alleged fraud by Bear in the creation and sale of mortgage-backed-securities.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said last month that Bear Stearns had cost his bank between $5 billion and $10 billion since the acquisition.
First Published: November 16, 2012: 2:56 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- For many of Hostess Brands' 18,500 workers and their families, the closing of their iconic company Friday is a devastating emotional and economic blow.
But others say the jobs weren't worth saving because of pay and benefit cuts.
For a member of the bakery workers' union whose strike a week ago led Hostess to shut operations, it's a sad day. "It was a great job. A lot of people put kids through college, paid for mortgages," he said.
The worker, who spoke on the condition his name not be used, said he spoke out at the union meeting against going on strike. "I said, 'If you're unhappy with the situation, then you need to quit. There are people with responsibilities and mortgages. We all can't afford to strike,'" said the veteran who worked loading trucks.
Related: Hostess shuts down for good
The worker said he blames management more than he blames his fellow union members who went on strike. And he's worried about the future.
"I'm 61, I was two years away from retirement," he said. "There aren't many jobs out there for someone like me."
However, other workers said the concessions being demanded by Hostess were just too great.
Mike Hummell, a receiving clerk and a member of the Bakers' union working in Lenexa, Kan., said he was making about $48,000 in 2005 before the company's first trip through bankruptcy. Concessions during that reorganization cut his pay to $34,000 last year, earning $16.12 an hour. He said the latest contract demands would have cut his pay to about $25,000, with significantly higher out-of-pocket expenses for insurance.
Related: Laid-off workers face tough job market
"The point is the jobs they're offering us aren't worth saving," he said Friday. "It instantly casts me into poverty. I wouldn't be able to make my house payment. My take-home would be less than unemployment benefits. Being on unemployment while we search for a new job, that's a better choice than working these hours for poverty wages."
While the Bakers' union voted against the concessions and went on strike, the 6,700 members of the Teamsters union narrowly ratified their own concession deal. Many of the drivers, who also served as Hostess' primary sales force, were earning more money than the bakers, getting commissions for the products they sold to grocery stores.
Related: Twinkies will survive
Tracy Fea, the wife of a Teamster working at Hostess, said she's particularly mad at the Bakers' union for the strike.
"While they [Teamsters at Hostess] were not at all happy about the additional concessions, they did not want to lose their jobs," she said. "My husband and I feel that if these employees [Bakers] were so unhappy ... then they should have quit so the company could continue on and the remaining employees that want to work could."
But Joe Lannan, a Teamster based in Kentucky, said he understands the bakers who walked out. He said he voted against the contract and would have struck if the vote had gone that way.
He said the split among Teamsters was between more senior workers and the newer drivers, such as himself. He's been at Hostess about a year.
"There were a lot of nervous guys, mostly with more senior drivers. I've seen a lot of teary eyes," he said.
But he's hopeful that a lot of the drivers will be able to find jobs due to the demand for truck drivers overall.
"The company has been in decline for years. There was no way it was going to get fixed," he said. "Everybody I worked with was looking for other jobs anyway."
Because of his commercial driver's license, Lannan was lucky enough to quickly find a new job, getting a call with a job offer as a fuel truck driver Friday afternoon.
First Published: November 16, 2012: 3:08 PM ET
Ebay bidders are going gangbusters for Twinkies-brand products, like this $690 lunchbox, with Hostess facing an imminent factory shutdown.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Twinkies merchandise is hot on Ebay, with prices soaring now that Hostess Brands is moving closer to closing down.
A lunch box featuring "Twinkie the Kid," a cartoon cowboy character that bears a striking resemblance to the iconic yellow cake, fetched a winning bid of $690 on Friday, after Hostess said it was seeking permission from a federal bankruptcy court to close down all its bakeries.
The Hostess announcement had an obvious impact on bidding. The lunch box, advertised as "mint condition, never used," was listed on Nov. 9 with a starting price of $14.99. There were no bids for a week. But then, on Friday morning, 58 bids pushed the price to $690. Most of those bids occurred in less than two hours.
Bidders who missed out on that lunch box haven't struck out completely. Other sellers have placed additional Twinkie the Kid lunch boxes on Ebay (EBAY, Fortune 500) , with starting prices reaching into the hundreds of dollars. There are no bids are these products yet, but the products will remain on the site for days, and Ebay bidding typically heats up as the deadline approaches.
Related: Hostess Brands closing for good
There are other Hostess-branded items for sale featuring Twinkie the Kid, including a "container" of uncertain purpose, and also a plush Beanie doll. These items had languished on Ebay for days with no bidding whatsoever until Friday, when the bids came in and prices pushed up dramatically.
These products include a Twinkies Bake Set, currently going for $64 after 34 bids. That might seem insignificant compared to the $690 lunch box, but the bidding deadline is still four days away, so there is plenty of time for frantic online auctioneering.
Consider this: The bake set allows consumers to make their own Twinkies. This could be a valuable commodity in the future, after the Hostess bakeries shut down. Another company might buy the Twinkies brand for production somewhere down the line, but the future of the bankrupt brand is far from certain.
Related: Don't worry, Twinkies will survive
For the moment, the world's supply of Twinkies is finite. Some sellers are trying to capitalize on that by putting the baked goods up for online auction. One Ebay seller wrote, "This could be the last box of Hostess Twinkies EVER! Buy it NOW!"
A few sellers are demanding hundreds of dollars for boxes of Twinkies. But so far, no bids.
At least, for now ...
First Published: November 16, 2012: 12:45 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The American Red Cross continues to see an outpouring of donations in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.
The relief agency had raised $145 million as of Friday morning, up from $131 million on Monday.
Since the storm, businesses have announced donations totaling $123 million to the Red Cross and other nonprofit aid organizations, according to the Chamber of Commerce's Corporate Aid Tracker.
Companies that have pledged more than $1 million to relief efforts include Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Coach (COH), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Walt Disney (DIS, Fortune 500), FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), Hess (HES, Fortune 500), Prudential (PRU, Fortune 500) and UPS (UPS, Fortune 500).
Related: Occupy Wall Street: The rebels found their cause
In addition to pledging $1.5 million to disaster relief organizations, Walmart (WMT, Fortune 500) donated 60 pallets of food and drinks, more than 2,000 board games and nearly 6,000 cases of cleaning supplies to people in New York State who were impacted by the storm.
PepsiCo (PEP, Fortune 500) delivered more than 100,000 cases of drinks and snacks to New York state, and said it will donate an additional 22 truck loads of supplies. Del Monte Foods said it will donate 146 tons of canned fruit, vegetables and broth, as well as dog and cat food.
With the money it receives, the Red Cross is operating shelters and offering food, water and relief supplies to areas struck hard by Sandy. The agency has set up 472 shelters to date in more than 10 states, providing 75,000 overnight stays to storm victims since the hurricane hit. It has delivered more than 6 million meals and snacks and has handed out more than 2 million relief items, including hygiene kits, clean-up kits, shovels and rakes.
Related: Why there are no Red Cross shelters in New York City
The $145 million that the Red Cross has raised so far beats the $8 million raised over the entire recovery period for Hurricane Isaac, which struck the Gulf Coast earlier this year, according to Neal Litvack, chief development officer at the Red Cross. It's also much more than the $14 million raised in the wake of 2011's Hurricane Irene.
Hurricane Katrina is the only U.S. natural disaster that has garnered more support, with the Red Cross raising $2.2 billion for relief efforts in its wake.
Donations for Sandy are still well behind the funds raised during international disasters like the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan last year and the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010. During the entire recovery periods for those events, the Red Cross raised a total of about $302 million for Japan, and $475 million for Haiti.
Among the other nonprofit organizations raising money for relief efforts, the Salvation Army has received more than $7 million in donations made online, by phone and by mail. The AARP Foundation announced today it would donate the nearly $1.3 million it has raised through its relief fund to the American Red Cross and local organizations in affected states. Feeding America has brought in $1.2 million in financial contributions and 150 truckloads of food, which it said will go to food banks in impacted areas. New York Cares has received donations of almost $1 million. As of Nov. 9, the United Way of New York City had raised $3 million, according to a fundraising survey conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
How to help
If you'd like to donate to the Red Cross online, go to www.redcross.org. You can also mail a check to: the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C., 20013. To donate by phone, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or give up to $10 by texting the word "REDCROSS" to 90999.
Visit CNN's Impact Your World for more information about the best ways to help hurricane victims, as well as how to volunteer for cleanup efforts.
The IRS also announced incentives for companies that let employees exchange vacation days, sick days or personal leave for cash payments that are given to qualifying tax-exempt organizations involved in Hurricane Sandy relief. Companies that adopt a leave-donation program like this are allowed to claim the cash payments as charitable deductions, and the amount of money donated won't be considered part of an employee's income or wages for tax purposes.
First Published: November 16, 2012: 7:05 PM ET
