December 21 - December 27, 2008

Friday, Dec. 26
The problem with taking so much off on merchandise before Christmas is that there's not much more to cut after Christmas.
The apparent winner is a private equity firm founded by two former partners from Goldman Sachs.
Wednesday, Dec. 24
Out of the credit markets arose a crisis to scare, All awakened with panic to the fall of a behemoth named Bear...
Those were the gains that investors thought they had made with Madoff - except that they were never real. Sound familiar?
People are feeling helpless because of the economic crisis - and hopeless about things getting better any time soon.
Last gasp for retailers, deal for IndyMac is imminent, Silverton gets snookered, Madoff losses less than first thought.
Tuesday, Dec. 23
Portfolio sold only 19,000 newsstand copies of its November issue, which featured on its cover the CEO of L.A.-based American Apparel.
A hedge fund manager who invested with the alleged scamster was found dead at his Madison Avenue office in an apparent suicide.
A lot is riding on the Tom Cruise thriller "Valkyrie" - specifically, how much UA parent MGM can generate at the box office.
Fortune magazine says prices are projected to fall almost 25 percent in 2009. That's worse than Stockton, Riverside and Bakersfield.
SAG delays strike authorization vote, LAX logjam loosening up, Madoff lieutenant questioned, and SFV home prices edge higher.
Monday, Dec. 22
Why was a capital infusion to the Pasadena-based lender listed as having been received before March 31 - even though it wasn't?
Small business owners are really having a tough time just making it into 2009 because they can't compete with the big chains on price.
Controller John Chiang says that if a budget deal isn't worked out, the state will run out of cash in about two months.
The nickel-a-gallon increase breaks a weekly streak that goes back to June 16, but at least one consumer group is crying foul.
Sumner Redstone took by far the biggest hit among media moguls, but plenty of other stock holdings went poof.
Holiday sales are a big deal, but perhaps more important are balance sheets - specifically, is there enough money to pay off vendors?
Toyota will lose money, retailers getting desperate for sales, new businesses take a dip, and more stars opposing strike authorization.
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