Fred Business News  - Lower energy prices and record highs for blue chip stocks weren't enough to lift consumer confidence in October, a business research group reported Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence index fell to 105.4 from a revised 105.9 in September. Confidence is closely watched since it tends to influence consumer spending, which in turn fuels about 70 percent of the nation's economy.

The research group said its survey found that consumers were mixed on current business conditions and had a ...   more »

Fred Business News - When you hear "JetBlue," "AirTran" or "Southwest," you think "cheap fares." These and other low-cost airlines have rapidly expanded in the past six years, bringing bargains to more markets and burnishing their reputations as the value-minded traveler's best friend.

Lately, though, the low-fare club has been growing and admitting some unexpected members.

Traditional airlines like American, Continental and United are selling more tickets at lower fares, aggressively matching or even undercutting prices on routes where discounters fly.

The result: While your first step ...   more »

Fred Business News - The widening waistlines of Americans have increased the consumption of gasoline since 1960 according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Virginia Commonwealth University.

A report by Laura A. McLay of VCU, concludes that Americans now pump 938 million gallons of fuel more on a yearly basis than they were in 1960 because of their increasing weight.

"Although the amount of fuel consumed as a result of the rising prevalence of obesity is small compared to the increase in the ...   more »

Fred Business News - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether Microsoft Corp. should have to pay damages overseas for infringing a speech recognition software patent owned by AT&T Inc.

The high court granted Microsoft's petition to review an appeals court ruling that held AT&T  could seek royalties based on the foreign manufacture and sale of infringing software products.

The Microsoft-AT&T dispute is one of the most important patent cases that will come before the court this year and could determine the reach of U.S....   more »

Fred Business News - Is Wal-Mart, the king of "cheap," shooting itself in the foot by straying from its low-priced strategy in favor of more upscale offerings?

In his presentation to a group of Wall Street analyst this week, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott admitted the world's biggest retailer has seen at least one big setback to its attempts to boost sales by offering fancier, higher-priced merchandise.

"We have to understand why Metro 7 does well in 600 stores but [doesn't] do well when you expand it [into more ...   more »