Returning a gift gets costly

Can't wait to tear into your presents this year? You may want to hold on. You could pay a price JUST for opening the box.

The Massachusetts Consumer Affairs office is out with a survey that shows more retailers are charging restocking fees -- fees for returned goods (typically electronics) if they're opened or not in a factory-sealed box.

So, if you bought a $300 product, but were charged a 15% restocking fee, your refund would only be $255. And restocking fees can be even higher; anywhere from 10 - 25%. Some retailers charge up to 60%. Overstock.com for example will keep 60% or more of the price of your jewelry or watch if you return it in a damaged box or if any of the manuals or tags are missing.

But it's not only electronics you have to worry about. According to Consumer Reports, you might be charged a 15% restocking fee for appliances, tools and lawn-and-garden products. To avoid this fee, don't open the package if you don't want what's inside. And if you're buying a gift, make sure you ask about restocking fees. Some retailers have a different policy online than they do in their stores.

Returns may be a bit easier this year-that's according to a just-released survey by Consumer World. This year, some stores have extended their return deadlines, and eased policies regarding the return of goods without receipts. Target (TGT, Fortune 500), for example, won't require a receipt for returns -- but that's only if the amount of receipt-less items you exchange is less than $70 a year. Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) has lengthened its holiday return period to January 31 -- except for computers. And Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) has extended the holiday return period on computers and cameras.

Policies vary widely among different stores. But according to Consumer Reports, you'll find the best return policies at Bed Bath & Beyond, (BBBY, Fortune 500) Bloomingdales, Costco, (COST, Fortune 500) Ikea and Kmart.
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Return policies that could trip you up include Home Depot's (HD, Fortune 500). Here you can't return items you bought online at their stores. At Buy.com you have 30 days to return an item once it's shipped -- regardless of WHEN you received it. At Overstock.com you can't return TVs over a certain size.

As always, buyer beware. Make sure you keep your receipts. If you buy and return items online, be aware that many merchants do not refund the cost of shipping. Consumers who have a problem returning a gift, should first contact the store manager or customer service department of the retailer. If you're still having issues, you can file a complaint with the state Attorney General's office or a local consumer agency.

Stocks ready to rise at open

Stocks were poised to open higher Tuesday as investors await reports on the overall economy and the housing sector.

Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq-100 and S&P-500 futures were all higher. Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Stocks rallied Monday, pushing the Dow back into positive territory for the month, as investors cheered a combination of analyst upgrades and corporate deal-making.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets in London, said that today's revision of the third-quarter gross domestic product could be the primary driver of the markets, especially if it bucks expectations and "gets revised to a better number."

"Momentum over the last couple of days has been strong," said Jones. "There's still a chance we could see the Dow hit 10,500 by the end of the year."

However, trading volume has been light, and "low volumes, as ever, tend to exaggerage the moves," he warned.

The Dow closed at 10,385 on Monday.

Economy: Before the opening bell, the Commerce Department releases its final revision of third-quarter gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect GDP to have risen at an annual rate of 2.7% in the three months ended in September.

While that would be below the 3.5% growth rate the government first reported in October, it would still be a marked improvement over the previous four quarters in which economic activity shrank.

Shortly after the market opens, the National Association of Realtors will release a report on existing home sales for November. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the annual sales rate to rise to 6.25 million from 6.1 million in October.

Company news: Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) announced Monday that it offering buyouts and early retirement to its 41,000 U.S. factory workers. The carmaker is looking to cut payroll costs in its effort to return to profitability by 2011.

World markets: Stocks in Asia closed higher, with Tokyo's Nikkei index up 1.9. European markets gained in midday trading.

Money and oil: The dollar gained against the yen and pound, but was lower versus the euro.

Crude oil for February delivery dropped 35 cents to $73.37 a barrel.

Gold for February delivery gained $1.60 to $1,097 an ounce.

Stocks set for early slump

Stocks were poised to fall at the opening bell, led by weakness in overseas markets and worries about the economy, with declines worsening after a worse-than-expected jobless claims report.

Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all lower.

Despite posting gains early in the session, stocks ended mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged near 0%, saying market conditions were helping the recovery but weakness will remain.

Marc Chandler, chief foreign exchange strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman, said that markets were "jittery" after the Fed statement.

However, he added that most of the early weakness on Wall Street was stemming from reports about Greece being downgraded by S&P. That follows a recent downgrade from Fitch, after healthcare companies complained that Greece was behind on payments related to its public health system.

Chandler said those downgrades and persistent economy worries are driving up the dollar to its highest point versus the euro since September, and its highest point against the pound since October.

"Santa Clause is giving a little present to people like me, who are dollar bulls," said Chandler.

Chandler said that concerns could carry extra weight amid "very thin" volume ahead of the holidays.

Economy: The Labor Department reported its weekly tally of jobless claims, which was higher than expected.

Jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 480,000 in the week ended Dec. 12. Analysts had estimated that the number of American filing first-time claims will fall to 465,000, according to Briefing.com consensus.

The November index of leading economic indicators, from the Conference Board, is due out shortly after the start of trading. LEI is expected to have risen 0.7% after rising 0.3% in October.

The Philadelphia Fed index, a regional read on manufacturing, is expected to have fallen to 16.0 in December from 16.7 in November.

The Senate Banking Committee will be voting on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's confirmation.

Companies: Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) said late Wednesday it intends to raise $20.5 billion in the stock market in a plan to payback its bailout funds. The New York-based lender said it will offer 5.4 billion shares of common stock priced at $3.15 per share to raise $17 billion. Citigroup will also offer 35 million "tangible equity units" for $100 each to raise the remaining $3.5 billion.

Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) appointed senior executive Brian Moynihan as its new chief executive officer. Moynihan, 50, is currently the president of consumer and small business banking at the nation's largest bank.

Exiting CEO Ken Lewis surprised Bank of America's board of directors when he announced his plans to retire in September.

Before the start of Thursday trading, package-delivery firm FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) reported earnings of $1.10 per diluted share for the second quarter, ended Nov. 30, down from a year ago's $1.58.

FedEx issued cautious guidance on the third quarter of 50 to 70 cents per diluted share. This falls short of 84 cents EPS, which was the forecast from Thomson Reuters. The stock price slipped in pre-market trading.

After the close Thursday, Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) is expected to report a profit of 36 cents per share versus 34 cents a year ago.

World Markets: Stocks in Asia ended mixed, with Tokyo's Nikkei index falling 0.13% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index off 1.22%. European indexes were also trading lower.

Currency and commodities: The dollar was higher against major international currencies, including the euro, the yen and the pound.

Crude oil for January delivery fell 66 cents to $72 a barrel.

Gold for February delivery plunged $21.80 to $1,113.70 an ounce.

Stocks climb on Citi, Dubai news

Stocks gained Monday after Citigroup said it will repay its government bailout funds and Dubai received $10 billion to cover its debt, easing worries that the emirate might default on billions it owes.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 22 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 index (SPX) gained 5 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) rose 10 points, or 0.5%.

The Dow closed at a 14-month high Friday after better-than-expected reports on retail sales and consumer sentiment, but broader gains were limited by tech weakness and a strong U.S. dollar.

Citigroup: Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) announced early Monday it has reached an agreement with the government to repay $20 billion it has received in TARP funds. The bulk of the bank's payment will be funded through a $17 billion common stock offering.

Citigroup also said the Treasury will sell up to $5 billion of the common stock it holds in a concurrent offering and the remainder over the next year.

Dubai: Fears that Dubai might default on billions of dollars in debt eased Monday when its fellow United Arab Emirate, Abu Dhabi, pledged $10 billion in financing. (Abu Dhabi gives Dubai $10 billion bailout)

The announcement allays concerns raised last month when Dubai sought a six-month delay in debt payments for Dubai World, the government's flagship holding company. Global markets, which fell sharply when the Dubai debt problems were first raised, were mostly higher in Monday trading.

Exxon-XTO deal: Dow component Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) said it will buy XTO Energy (XTO, Fortune 500) in a $31 billion all-stock deal that values XTO shares at a 25% premium to its Friday closing price.

Exxon shares fell 2.5% and limited any gains on the Dow. XTO shares rallied 17%.

Banks: President Obama will meet Monday with top executives of some of the nation's biggest lenders, including Capital One (COF, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), PNC (PNC, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500). The president is expected to say he wants to see more loans for the sake of economic recovery.

Obama is expected to urge bankers to enact a number of changes, including greater lending, curbing runaway compensation practices, as well as supporting financial reform efforts.
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Week ahead: No major economic reports are due Monday. But reports on inflation, housing and industrial production are due out later this week.

The Federal Reserve will take center stage this week as the U.S. central bank opens its final monetary policy meeting of the year on Tuesday.

Investors will also focus on corporate results from a number of major companies. Consumer electronics giant Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) posts results Tuesday, and software maker Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) reports Thursday.

Meanwhile, trading could be choppy towards the end of the week due to the quadruple options expiration, a quarterly event when stock index futures and options and individual stock futures and options all expire at the same time.

World markets: European indexes were modestly higher in afternoon trading after the Abu Dhabi announcement on Dubai. Stocks in Asia ended mixed, with Tokyo's Nikkei index down slightly and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index up 0.8%.

Other markets: The dollar slipped against the yen and euro, but was slightly higher versus the U.K. pound.

Crude oil for January delivery fell 33 cents to $69.54 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery rose $2.20 to $1,122.10 an ounce.

Stocks set to climb

Stocks were set to continue the previous session's rally on Friday, gaining momentum from world markets on the one-year anniversary of Bernard Madoff's arrest.

The Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq-100 and S&P-500 futures were higher.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Stocks rallied across the board Thursday as investors sifted through a host of reports on jobs, housing, net worth and the budget deficit. A seesawing dollar was also in focus.

"Everybody is looking for what appears to be a relatively good retail sales report, suggesting that the consumer is not going to be as tight-fisted this holiday season, compared to last," said Ken Goldstein, economist at the Conference Board.

But Goldstein added that consumers are still skeptical about the strength of the job market, which weakens their desire and ability to spend, feeding his own skepticism about the retail report.

"The question is: what if those retail reports are just a little bit disappointing?" Goldstein said. "Why in the world would they be out and having a bang-up holiday season? We could see the market having more of a blah day than a ho-ho-ho day."

Economy: The November retail sales report from the Commerce Department is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Sales are expected to have risen 0.5% after rising 1.4% in the previous month. Sales excluding autos are expected to have risen 0.5% in November after rising 0.2% in the previous month.

The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for December is due just after the start of trading. Sentiment is expected to have improved to 68.5 from 67.4 in late November.

Reports on October business inventories and November import and export prices are also due.

World Markets: Stocks in Asia re allied, with Tokyo's Nikkei index gaining nearly 2.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbing nearly 1%. European indexes were also pushing higher.

Other markets: The dollar was lower against most of the major international currencies, including the euro and the pound, but rose versus the yen.

Crude oil for January delivery edged up 30 cents to $70.84 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery were up $14 to $1,142.20 an ounce. That's nearly 6% below last week's record settlement high of $1,218.30.

Stocks set for a weak open

U.S. stocks headed for a lower start Tuesday as a stock market shake-up in Europe made its way across the Atlantic.

Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq-100 and S&P-500 futures were lower, with most of the downturn occurring after 6 a.m. ET.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Stocks ended mixed after a choppy session on Monday as investors weighed a stronger dollar, falling oil and gold prices, and comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that cooled worries about higher interest rates.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets in London, said that Wall Street appears to be reacting to declining stock indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt, which stem from a disappointing report on German industrial output.

"It's definitely driven by this German data," said Jones, noting that sluggishness in pre-Christmas trading has arrived early this year, which creating more volatility. "We're already seeing volume starting to drop off, so we're seeing more exaggerated moves."

Economy. President Obama is due to speak on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington at 11:25 a.m. ET. He is expected to propose re-allocating $200 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to fund new job creation efforts.

His comments will come on the heels of some encouraging signs in the two-year-old employment decline. In a survey released early Tuesday, employment services company Manpower Inc. said fewer companies plan to cut jobs in the first quarter of 2010. Last Friday, the November jobs report showed the smallest monthly decline in payrolls since the recession started in late 2007.

At 10 a.m. ET, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on private sector and government response to the mortgage foreclosure crisis.
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A Labor Department report on job openings and labor turnover in October is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Company news. Kroger (KR, Fortune 500) will report third-quarter financial results before the opening bell. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the grocery store operator to post earnings of 37 cents per share, down 6% from a year ago.

General Motors is scheduled to issue an update on its turnaround efforts in a press conference at 8:30 a.m. ET. New chief executive Ed Whitacre was originally scheduled to speak, a week after he and the GM board sought and received the resignation of CEO Fritz Henderson. But Whitacre was dropped from the update and will be replaced by two lower-level executives.

World Markets. Stocks in Asia ended lower, with Tokyo's Nikkei index slipping 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropping 1.2%. European indexes were down about 1%, losing their earlier gains.

Other markets. The dollar rose against most major international currencies, but slipped against the yen.

Crude oil for January delivery fell 50 cents to $73.43 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery slipped 84 cents to $1,163.40 an ounce after reaching a record settlement high of $1,218.30 last week.

GE, Vivendi near NBC Universal deal - reports

General Electric is close to clearing a major hurdle in its path to sell control of entertainment giant NBC Universal to Comcast, according to published reports Monday.

GE has reached a tentative deal to buy Vivendi SA's 20% stake in NBC Universal for $5.8 billion, the reports say.

The current agreement is reportedly the result of face-to-face talks last week between GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt and Vivendi's chief executive, Jean-Bernard Lévy.

The tentative plan values NBC Universal at around $30 billion, according to reports, setting the stage for a joint venture with GE, where Comcast would hold a reported 51% stake in what would be one of the world's biggest media companies.

A final deal could reportedly come this week, but many details still need to be hammered out.

A representative for GE would not comment on the reports, and representatives from Vivendi and Comcast could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rumors of a long-awaited GE/Comcast deal first surfaced in early October and have been said to depend on a sale of Vivendi's minority stake in NBC Universal.

The media group, which includes the NBC television network, Universal Pictures movie studio and the Universal theme parks, had been the target of spin-off speculation for many months. GE was never able to find synergies between NBC and its other, primarily industrial businesses, and many investors called on General Electric to shed the business.
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GE (GE, Fortune 500) bought NBC in 1985 for $6.3 billion. In May 2004, NBC and French telecom giant Vivendi Universal merged to form NBC Universal. GE owned an 80% stake in the media company and Vivendi owned 20%.

Vivendi had also been mulling an exit for some time. Under the deal's original terms, Vivendi has the annual right to divest its stake during a three-week window starting Nov. 15 each year.

GE's media unit has been struggling. NBC Universal reported an 11% drop in revenue and a 27% profit decline the first nine months of the year. Universal Studios had just one summer box office hit: "Inglourious Basterds," and attendance at the company's theme parks has been slipping. NBC has also been in the ratings toilet for several years.

But things aren't all bad at NBC Universal. Its cable networks are exceedingly strong, with USA gaining the top ratings of any cable network in the past quarter.

The SyFy network, CNBC and Bravo have also gained viewers, and MSNBC took over second place in the prime time cable news battle. Also, NBC's investment in digital media site hulu.com seems to be playing off, with strong growth in viewership and advertising content.

Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500), the largest U.S. cable company with nearly 24 million subscribers, has been looking to expand its content services for many years. Comcast also owns several cable networks, including entertainment network E!, the Style Network, the Golf Channel, Versus, G4, PBS Kids Sprout, TV One and Comcast Sports Group.

The company failed in an unsolicited bid to buy Walt Disney Co. (DIS, Fortune 500) for $54 billion in 2004, a deal that would have created the world's biggest media company.