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The Seattle Times: Business & Technology

• Catherine Reynolds starts own wine-selling business
  The former wine manager of The Spanish Table expands weekly newsletter into home-based wine consultancy, sales operation in Skyway.
• Seattle sells bonds despite havoc in the credit market
  The financial crisis has wreaked havoc with state and local governments, affecting their investment portfolios and their ability to borrow money.
• Consumer Counseling Northwest forced to merge
  In January one of the Puget Sound region's oldest nonprofit credit-counseling agencies will become part of a large nonprofit agency in Ohio. The merger is the latest fallout from the nation's economic crisis.
• In weak economy, old-fashioned haggling is back
  With the weak economy persuading more people to shop hard for bargains, many seem to be resorting to good old-fashioned haggling.
• Unions like Obama jobs plan; trade issue on hold
  On balance, union leaders said they are satisfied with Obama so far, even though they will have to put one of their central demands — opposition to free-trade agreements — on a back burner.
• Anxiety as holiday shopping begins
  The nation's retailers are set to usher in the holiday shopping season today with pre-dawn openings, deep discounts and a downright dismal economic outlook that threatens to keep shoppers' credit cards securely in their wallets.
• Wall Street neighbors wonder what lies ahead
  Lower Manhattan's population has more than doubled since 2001. But can the market for luxury condos weather the financial industry's current crisis?
• 'Space family' says goodbye as mission nears end
  Seven astronauts piled into space shuttle Endeavour for the return trip to Earth after eating Thanksgiving dinner, leaving their counterparts at the international space station like relatives parting ways from a holiday visit.
• Asian markets rise; India stocks gain after attack
  Asian stock markets rose Friday as investors bought beaten-down shares on hopes that economy-boosting steps by governments around the world would help ward off a deep global recession. European shares opened lower.
• Bangkok airports shutdown ripples through region
  The severing of air links with Thailand's capital - a vital air hub that handles 3 percent of world air cargo and 100,000 travelers a day - rippled through the region with airlines scrambling to reroute passengers and freight as hopes for a quick resolution to the crisis faded.
• Bank of China expands into Switzerland
  Bank of China said Friday it has received regulatory approval to offer banking services in Switzerland.
• Cathay to park freighters, offer unpaid leave
  Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said Friday it will park two freighters, offer unpaid leave to employees and may delay construction on a cargo terminal to cut costs amid the global economic downturn.
• China shares retreat on profit-taking
  China's stocks retreated Friday on profit-taking but ended November with the biggest one-month gain in 15 months on optimism about a multibillion-dollar economic stimulus package.
• China's first homegrown jet makes trial flight
  China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft, the ARJ-21, successfully made its maiden flight on Friday, a key step in the country's ambitious aviation program.
• Compensating bondholders hits Unicredit profits
  Italy's largest bank, Unicredit, said Friday that compensating customers who bought index-linked notes related to Lehman Brothers securities would cut 2008 profits by euro106 million ($137 million).
• Deutsche Telekom softens call center cuts
  Deutsche Telekom AG said Friday it has secured employee approval for shutting many of its call centers in Germany after it agreed to close nine fewer facilities than originally planned.
• Divers search for black boxes in Airbus A320 crash
  A minesweeper is searching choppy seas for the black box flight recorders of an Airbus A320 passenger plane that crashed into the Mediterranean off France's southern coast.
• EU says drugmakers blocked cheaper medicines
  European patients had to pay some euro3 billion ($3.87 billion) more for medicines in 2000-2007 because pharmaceutical companies deliberately stalled the sale of cheaper generic versions, EU antitrust regulators said Friday.
• Euro rises against dollar
  The euro was higher against the dollar on Friday in quiet trading over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday period.
• German upper house approves new VW law
  The German parliament's upper house on Friday approved a planned law governing automaker Volkswagen AG that has put Berlin at odds with the European Commission.
• HK stock index rises for 4th straight day
  Hong Kong's key stock index advanced for a fourth straight session Friday as investors bet Wall Street will extend gains when trade resumes following the Thanksgiving holiday.
• India's economic growth slows to 7.6 percent
  India's economy grew at its slowest pace in four years in the third quarter as the global slump took a toll on exports and foreign investment.
• Japan stocks rise on hopes for economic steps
  Japanese stocks rose Friday amid growing investor optimism that economy-boosting steps by governments around the world would help ward off a deep global recession.
• Japanese factory output slides, outlook even worse
  Production at Japan's vital manufacturers is sinking fast - and is projected to turn in its worst quarter ever - amid a plunge in global demand that is battering the core of the world's second-largest economy.
• Meltdown far from over, new mortgage crisis looms
  Black Friday's retail shoppers hunting for holiday bargains won't be enough to stave off what's likely to become the next economic crisis. Malls from Michigan to Georgia are entering foreclosure, commercial victims of the same events poisoning the housing market.
• Oil falls below $54 ahead of OPEC meeting
  Oil prices fell below $54 a barrel Friday as a gloomy outlook for global crude demand overshadowed expectations that OPEC might announce a production cut this weekend.