Philly.com Business
Business headlines from Philly.com.

• Fox29 hires another new news director
  Fox29 has hired its third news director in a year. Kingsley Smith, last at Fox's KTVI in St. Louis, was named yesterday to run the station's news department, ranked fourth among the town's four stations that present original news.
• Oil rises to $96.62 a barrel
  NEW YORK - Oil futures rose yesterday after the government reported larger-than-expected declines in crude and heating-oil inventories and on news of the killing of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto.
• Bhutto killing may harm business ties
  NEW YORK - The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is likely to complicate business relations between the United States and Pakistan, which is already a major manufacturer of clothing and has been pushing for greater private-sector ties.
• Orders to factories fall short
  WASHINGTON - Orders to U.S. factories for costly manufactured goods rose only marginally in November, falling short of expectations and underscoring the strains on the economy from housing and credit problems.
• Business news in brief
  
• Pakistani news sends Dow lower
  NEW YORK - Stocks skidded yesterday after the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and after the Commerce Department's report on durable-goods orders increased concerns about the U.S. economy. The major indexes each lost more than 1 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 192 points.
• Patching AMT will delay tax refunds
  WASHINGTON - More than three million people will have to wait until February to get their tax refunds because of Congress' late fix to the alternative minimum tax, the IRS said yesterday.
• Medicare rules health benefits
  WASHINGTON - Employers can reduce their health insurance expenses for retired workers once the retirees turn 65 and qualify for Medicare, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has affirmed.
• Mid-Atlantic region: Consumers in Pa., N.J. and N.Y. aren't as upbeat.
  Consumer confidence declined sharply this month in the region comprising Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, according to the Conference Board report released yesterday.
• Citi losses could be still worse
  NEW YORK - When Citigroup warned in early November that it was likely to write down its portfolio by $8 billion to $11 billion in the fourth quarter because of exposure to bad loans, investors recoiled at the size of the losses. Some now say those estimates appear drastically understated.
• Court upholds damages caps in product lawsuits
  CINCINNATI - The Ohio Supreme Court upheld a state law yesterday that limits how much a person injured by a defective product can collect in pain-and-suffering damages, reversing its stance on a closely watched issue.
• Consumer confidence is soft
  NEW YORK - The nation's consumers grew slightly more confident in December despite underlying concerns about the health of the economy.
• Citi May Write Down $18.7B, Analysts Say
  When Citigroup warned in early November that it was likely to write down its portfolio by $8 billion to $11 billion in the fourth quarter because of exposure to bad loans, investors recoiled at the size of the losses. Some now say those early estimates appear drastically understated.
• Center City business weathers tough forecast
  David White winced yesterday as he remembered Dec. 14. His hip new Center City shop ran out of its most popular item that day: wooden signs with saucy slogans like Unattended Children Will be Given an Espresso and a Free Puppy.
• Buffett offers $4.5 billion for a stake in Marmon
  NEW YORK - When Warren Buffett's investment company said on Christmas Day that it would pay $4.5 billion for a 60 percent stake in industrial conglomerate Marmon Holdings Inc., he gave the U.S. industrial segment a much-needed vote of confidence.
• Store stocks dip; forecasts shift
  Retail stocks were pummeled across the board yesterday after a late shopping surge apparently failed to salvage the slowest-growing holiday sales season in five years.
• Honey, it heals the kids
  TRENTON - Amid growing concern over drug-resistant superbugs and non-healing wounds that endanger diabetes patients, nature's original antibiotic - honey - is making a comeback.
• Second set of presidential coins to debut
  WASHINGTON - Coming soon on new presidential dollar coins - Old Hickory, Old Kinderhook, Old Man Eloquent, and the Last of the Cocked Hats.
• Stocks react to flat retail sales
  NEW YORK - Stocks finished largely flat yesterday as investors returned from the Christmas holiday to news of weaker-than-expected retail sales. A jump in oil prices also concerned Wall Street.
• Business news in brief