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• Writers propose independent negotiations
  Faced with the indefinite suspension of negotiations, the union representing striking Hollywood writers told its members Saturday it would try to deal directly with Hollywood studios and production companies, bypassing the umbrella organization that has been representing them.The news was welcomed by the company that produces David Letterman's "Late Show," which said it hoped to broker a deal that would put the talk show host and his writers back to work.Talks broke off Dec. 7 after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, insisted it would not bargain further unless the Writers Guild of America dropped proposals that included the authority to unionize writers on reality shows and animation projects.Both sides in the strike, which began Nov. 5, have said the central issue is compensation for programs, movies and other content streamed or downloaded over the Internet."As you know, the AMPTP is currently unwilling to bargain with us," the guild said in a letter delivered to its members Saturday. "The internal dynamics of the AMPTP make it difficult for the conglomerates to reach consensus and negotiate with us on a give-and-take basis. We believe this multi-employer structure inhibits individual companies from pursuing their self-interest in negotiations."
• Execs: Web ad spending should be higher
  Online advertising jumped 25 percent this year, raking in a cool $20 billion, but Internet executives say that figure could have been even higher if advertisers had reliable and consistent ways to measure online audiences.Unlike traditional media, where each format has one main ratings provider - The Nielsen Co. for television, Arbitron Inc. for radio and so on - there are many sources of data on online audiences. And they frequently conflict.Disagreement also continues over which criteria best gauge users' potential interest in a product or service. And the resulting data aren't easily comparable to ratings in other media anyway.It's a "problem of plenty," as Manish Bhatia, president of global services for Nielsen Online, a unit of The Nielsen Co., told a recent conference on online audience measurement.Web publishers are frustrated that the lack of cohesion is holding them back from capturing more of the $250-billion-a-year U.S. advertising pie, especially given the huge amount of time people spend online.
• New 'Great Game' for Central Asia riches
  The driver of the 18-wheel tractor-trailer from China idling at the Kazakhstan-China border said apples were the cargo he brought to Almaty, Kazakhstan's booming commercial center.For Kazakhs, there's a tart irony in the shipment.Almaty's region is where the first apple trees were found and the first apple orchards planted. The city was a center of the Soviet Union's s fruit industry. Its very name means "Father of Apples."In the past few years, Chinese fruit, vegetables, TV sets, T-shirts and tires have flooded markets along the old Silk Road in former Soviet Central Asia. Each day, all along the Chinese border, hundreds of tractor-trailers rattle west.These goods are the most visible sign of Beijing's growing power here as China, Russia, the United States and others compete for financial and strategic advantage on the borders of some of the world's most turbulent countries - Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• Wall Street focus on housing data, Fed
  Stock investors smarting from months of volatility are hoping this holiday-shortened week provides signs of a badly-needed yearend rally.The days leading up to Thanksgiving - which in recent years have been positive for stocks - will bring readings on the housing market, minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting last month, and earnings reports including results from major retailers. The data should keep investors busy as they stare down tumbling home prices, billions of dollars of losses at banks that made losing bets on subprime mortgages, and crude oil flirting with $100 a barrel.Though the end of the year usually sparks buying, recent developments have made a December rally look like a pipe dream to many market participants, who are simply hoping stocks can hold onto their gains. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 5.73 percent year-to-date, the Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 2.85 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index is up 9.19 percent.At this point, Wall Street expects the U.S. housing market to keep wilting through next year, and perhaps into 2009. It also assumes financial institutions will be taking another giant round of writedowns during the fourth quarter, one that may be larger than the third quarter's approximately $45 billion in credit-related losses.What investors remain unsure of is how long it will take the Wall Street banks to bounce back from their losses, and if consumers and the broader economy will survive the worst housing market in decades.
• Fed taking on abusive lending practices
  People taking out home mortgages may gain new protections soon against shady lending practices as the Federal Reserve seeks to back even the riskiest borrowers, already hit hardest by the housing and credit crunches.Rules expected to be proposed Tuesday would apply to loans made by all types of lenders, including banks and brokers. The plan from the Fed, which has regulatory powers over the nation's financial system, could be finalized next year. The effective date would be know then.The Fed is considering:-barring lenders from penalizing subprime borrowers - those with spotty credit or low incomes - who pay their loans off early.-forcing lenders to make sure that borrowers, especially subprime borrowers, set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.
• Doping scandals leave sponsors wary
  Few big-time bankers get as excited by cycling as Piet van Schijndel. Then again, he has millions of dollars in sponsorship riding on races such as the Tour de France.Perhaps Van Schijndel's best moment came one hot July afternoon during last summer's Tour when Michael Rasmussen zipped up his yellow jersey and crossed the finish of the 16th stage, arms outstretched, with "Rabobank" emblazoned on his chest.The Dane had won the Tour's toughest Pyrenees stage for Rabobank - one of the biggest banks in the Netherlands - and appeared to have a lock on the title.For any sponsor, this was gold dust. But this time, it turned out to be fool's gold."I saw him win the stage on the Aubisque mountain at 5 p.m., then at 8 p.m., I got this call," said Van Schijndel, an executive board member of Rabobank.
• Stocks fall on inflation report
  Stocks finished a bruising week on the downside Friday after a jump in consumer inflation raised concerns about how much freedom the Federal Reserve has to continue cutting interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average gave up more than 178 points.Concerns emerged after the Labor Department reported its consumer price index had a bigger-than-expected jump for November, with large increases in the cost of clothing, airline tickets and prescription drugs. That raised questions about the Fed's options for priming the economy.Policymakers this week lowered interest rates and announced a plan to align with other key central banks and offer loans to pressed lenders around the world. But while it wants to stimulate the U.S. economy and make lending easier among banks wary of faltering debt, the Fed also has to keep a watchful eye on inflation.Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group, said the economic readings this week painted a mixed picture for investors, spurring some of the market's volatility."If you take the stronger-than-expected economic data we saw this week in the form of retail sales and add to that the inflation data and then combine that with a somewhat ambiguous statement from the Fed, you get a picture as clear as mud," he said.
• Citigroup puts SIVs on balance sheet
  It's been a big week for Citigroup: the bank named a new CEO and then, in an about-face, took control of the seven troubled funds it previously managed at arm's length.Investors are viewing the two moves as steps in the right direction to restore the bank's shaken reputation, but also expect there is more to be done. With a month to go before Citigroup Inc. is expected to reveal its first quarterly loss in over a decade, investors remain uncertain how much the bank's financial muscle has atrophied amid the tight credit markets - and what bitter pills the bank must swallow next to regain its strength.Responding to foundering investor confidence, Citi late Thursday said it will incorporate its seven "structure investment vehicles," or SIVs, onto its balance sheet. The SIVs have $62 billion in assets - or $49 billion excluding cash and cash equivalents - and $58 billion in debt. Citi had previously set aside $10 billion in liquidity aimed at keeping the SIVs operational, but Thursday's move makes Citi's obligation to the funds official.SIVs are inves