NEW YORK - Santa’s on a budget this year. Toy retailers and makers plan to make the best of it by offering more deals and cut-price versions of more expensive toys that they hope will spur parents to spend even if they’re scrimping elsewhere. Two influential lists of expected hot holiday [ Read More → ]

BREAKING NEWS: At least 1,100 dead in 2 Indonesia quakes, UN says Click for story –> W.Va. bank agrees to greater regulatory scrutiny By TIM HUBER AP Business Writer </ Read the original article at Palmbeachpost

NEW YORK—On football and soccer fields across the nation, small business owners are taking advantage of a huge marketing opportunity: sponsoring local sports teams. Just about every sport, from T-ball played by 5-year-olds to semi-pro baseball or basketball, offers small businesses a chance to get some name recognition and create goodwill [ Read More → ]

Walter Hamilton And E. Scott Reckard - Kenneth D. Lewis, who became a focus of public and political outrage while presiding over Bank of America Corp.’s stunning fall from grace in the financial crisis, is stepping down as [ Read More → ]

On Wall Street, it paid to wear rose-colored glasses in the third quarter. Another surge in stock prices rewarded investors who kept faith that the recession was ending — even amid growing concern about the recovery’s dependence on government support. The Dow Jones industrial average, which slipped 29.92 points, or 0.3%, to [ Read More → ]

NEW YORK - Can’t find an ATM from your bank nearby? Keep walking, unless you want to pay higher fees. An annual survey released Wednesday by Bankrate.com found the average ATM fee for non-customers rose 12.6 percent this year to $2.22. You’ll likely get dinged by your own bank, too. The average [ Read More → ]

NEW YORK - The cost of making phone calls has been dropping rapidly in the last few years. If you want take full advantage of that, you’ll need to try some new things, because the phone companies aren’t going to thrust savings on you. Here are 10 tips on how [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON - Lenders are ramping up efforts to avoid home foreclosures, but a report by bank regulators says more than half of borrowers who get help fall behind again. More than 50 percent of homeowners with loans modified in the first half of last year had missed at least two months [ Read More → ]

BREAKING NEWS: Teen charged in Boynton MySpace robbery Click for story <img src=”http://www.palmbeachpost.com/custom/nospider/impl/images/clickability_envelope.gif” … Read the original article at Palmbeachpost

Decline in the consumer credit market continues, but the contraction rate has stabilised, according to new figures published today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA). Overall, business written by FLA members, who provide secured and unsecured loans, credit and store cards, and motor finance, fell by 17% in July 2009 [ Read More → ]