courtney reagan is live in the bronx with more on the business headlines, live at a barnes & noble. >> reporter: hi there, craig. while a lot of folks think about this week as being a very big week to returns and changes, a lot of sales get done, too, particularly for the content distributors like the amazons, lying the barnes & noble, thinks of those mills onof tablets that appeared that now need to be full of content. so barnes & noble is one of those big beneficiaries saleswise this week of the year is one of the most important for them, but talking about returns also up this year. so they're preparing for all of that as well, but you know what? this year also the retailers got an extra day during the year and an extra day this week because of christmas falling on a sunday. a lot of consumers were off work and have an extra day to go shopping. >> quickly here, word is we're seeing four different types of shoppers this year. what can you tell us about those groups? >> exactly. so there are sort of four different types of shoppers or perhaps each type in each of us. the bargain hunte

courtney reagan covers the retail industry for cnbc and has our report tonight. >> reporter: despitehallenging economic conditions, this holiday season is turning out to be more joyful than expected. consumers are shopping and spending more than they said they would. according to the cnbc all america economic survey, the average u.s. shopper plans to spend $751 this year, up 22% from last year. >> they're feeling a little bit bitter. consumer confidence is picking up a bit and we're seeing that in the spending numbers. >> reporter: tomorrow, the second monday in december is dubbed green monday by ebay five years ago when online sales shot up. it has become one of the largest shopping days all year with big discounts. they predict $1 billion will be spent online tomorrow, so far more than $24 billion has been spent online for the holiday season, marking a 15% increase over last year. >> it is very possible that tomorrow, monday, might well be the heaviest day that we have ever seen in the history of the internet. >> reporter: a fact that fedex is well aware of, saying tomorrow could b

courtney reagan, correspondent for cnbc, david bach, founder of finishrich.com and author of "debt free life" and sharon epperson, cnbc's personal financial correspondent. good morning. too early to say happy new year? >> happy birthday. >> thank you, i was stretching it out one for day. first question e-mail, jacqueline in honolulu, hawaii, i havele examinent credit but i just canceled one card as i wanted another airline card. i was told it could hurt my credit score if i cancel a card. is this true? courtney, a lot of people wonder this. you hear this. what is the truth? >> seems not to make sense but it does impact your credit negatively if you cancel a credit card. there are five factors that go in to determining that credit score, payment history, amount owed, types of credit, it's new credit and all of these things together make up that credit score. two of them make up your credit utilization, so the easiest way to explain this is with an example. if you have four credit cards, say that total is $30,000 of available credit and you have 10,000 of an outstanding balance. 10,000 di

jean chats ski, sharon epperson and courtney reagan. for those of you on the east coast, jean will stick around. she's got a live chat answering your questions on the web. just go to today.com. >>> and coming up ahead, how to avoid some of the most common holiday fights with your significant other. >>> then later, what to get the hostess or host with the most. affordable holiday gift ideas after these messages. two medium cappuccinos! let's show 'em what a breakfast with wholegrain fiber can do. one coffee with room, one large mocha latte. medium macchiato, light hot chocolate hold the whip, and two espressos, make one a double. she's full and focused! [ barista ] i have two cappuccinos, one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, a medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate, hold the whip and two espressos, one with a double shot. hehe, that's not the coffee talking. [ female announcer ] start your day with kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal. the 8 layers of whole grain fiber help keep you full so you can avoid the distraction of mid-m

courtney reagan is at the new york stock exchange. good morning to you, courtney.boy, has it been a rough kep couple of weeks. >> reporter: it's been a rough couple of months actually. today the telecom sector will likely be in focus. at&t is dropping its $39 billion bid to buy t-mobile in the face of pretty fierce objections from both competitors and u.s. regulators. meantime, investors will also be watching shares of bank of america. the stock closed below $5 for the first time in two years yesterday. and economic data is relatively light. a handful of consumer companies will be reporting earnings today. back to you, natalie. >> courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thank you. >>> there are no signs of a power struggle in pyongyang as north koreans mourn the death of leader kim jong-il. the possibility of a contested transition of power has heightened tensions in the region but state media are indicating that kim's youngest son, kim jong-un, will succeed his father. >>> lori barenson who spent 15 years in prison in peru will spend the holidays here with

. >>> and we're going to check in with cnbc's courtney reagan, and she has the day's business headliness are higher today. the dow is up 52 points. we are off the highs of the morning, which we hit shortly after the opening of the bell. we have gotten mixed economic news out of the commerce department this morning. u.s. retail sales did grow two-tenths of a percentage in november, and that's without the sale of autos. the commerce department says the business inventories rose to a record high which could help to boost fourth quarter economic growth. now congress has reached a tentative deal to fund the government through next year. details on the bill will be unveiled today but it's expected to chip away at the nation's pentagon budget, foreign aid and environmental spending. it boosts funding for veteran's programs and the war in afghanistan. and a temporary spending measure expires on friday. >>> and we have a little good news for the procrastinators out there, myself included. most online stores are dropping their standard rate for gifts to get there by christmas. and the shipping pr

courtney reagan is at the new york stock exchange. >> good morning to you, natalie. once again investor also look to global news to guide the market action here today in the u.s. north korean leader kim jong-il's passing really roiled asian markets sending the kospi index of south korea down as much as 5% because of the uncertainty surrounding the next leader, kim jong-un. meantime, european debt crisis is still in focus. european central bank president mario draghi is set to speak to an economic committee later today. watch for headlines out of that speech to move markets. >> courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thank you. >>> celebration turned to horror as a runaway cart rolled across the stadium. officials believe someone failed to turn off the engine. seven people were injured, none of them seriously before somebody finally was able to put a stop to the vehicle. it is awful to see that. 7:19, back over to ann, carl and al. >> looks like the orange things got stuck as well. mr. roker is here with the forecast. hey you. >> we're talking blizzard conditi

for more we turn to cnbc's courtney reagan at the bay plaza shopping center in the bronx. courtney, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, carl. this week between christmas and new years is a rebalancing act of sorts juggling between returns, exchanging and new sales. it's difficult for the digital content retarls, barnes mp mp nobles, the amazons of the world. amazon in a statement to cnbc tells us "this christmas, not only did we have more kindle book downloads than last year, but christmas 2011 was our biggest day ever in terms of kindle book downloads." similarly ceo of barnes & noble, william lynch noting that is the biggest day of the year. we'll keep focused on the sales numbers as we get them. >> cnbc's courtney reagan, thanks. >>> the babysitter charged in the death of a 9-year-old indiana girl makes an appearance today. aliahna lemmon was found dead monday. >>> and breaking an nfl record is a breeze if you're drew brees that is, the quarterback for the new orleans saints set a new record for passing yards in a single season, a record held by dan marie kno

. >>> and now courtney reagan joins us, and she has the day's headlines. >> yeah, we did see the joblesslaims number fall to a nine-month low, but because of everything going on in the market and in europe, it seems like stocks are paying more attention to that. the dow is down 136 points. and we have this full day of market moving events, and investors sort of waiting word from europe. the leaders are beginning a two-day summit in brussels trying to agree on the problem solving of the debt crisis. the european central bank meets today and is expected to cut interest rates. >>> and jon corzine makes his first public appearance today since the brokage firm filed for bankruptcy on the 21st. normaler new jersey governor, and senator and ceo of golden sacks. we're still waiting on his testimony to begin. and the global collapse, they are being investigated for company use. hundreds of millions of dollars are still missing. >>> well, testing a simpler credit card agreement. the agency is putting out a prototype. an average card agreement runs about 5,000 words and is packed with fine print. i

cnbc courtney reagan is at a shopping center in the bronx. are they buying or returning there? a little bit of both at barnes and noble. of course they sell those nook ereaders and tablets this holiday season. really, really popular gift item. of course once you get that gift, you have to fill it up. that's the books and the music and the movies if it's the tablet. you are seeing a lot of sales there, record sales perhaps. we don't yet know, but 'tis the season for returns. the national retail federation believes that $46.3 billion worth will be returned. up 4% from last year and 10% in two years. you are seeing a little bit of both buying and returning. >> any idea why returning were up so much? >> part is because people are buying more. the national retail federation did just increase the sales forecast by a percent. when you buy more, there is more to return as well. it's fairly simple supply and demand there. >> you mentioned the kindle nook. any other pot hot items? >> the kindle and leapfrog had one of the lablets for kids. a video game for little kids. that was a hot toy

let's check in on courtney reagan on where things stand now. >> stocks are higher but not as high asarlier in the session. either way, it's a reverse of thursday's losses. and so the unemployment rate for november dropped four tens of a percent. however, 300,000 americans gave up looking for work, and that's an important detail contributing to the drop in the unemployment rate. 120,000 nonfarmed jobs were added, and that was slightly less than expected. october and november payrolls were upwardly resized to reflect 72,000 jobs that had previously gone unreported. there's a bit of a positive trend. several banks and mortgage lenders are offering some relief to struggling homeowners during the is ason. bank of america and others are involved. the policy only applies to those staying in their homes. >>> and honda is recalling some vehicles because of air bags that could inflight too much pressure during a crash. there have been 20 accidents related to the problem with two deaths in the u.s. in 2009. the recall affects the accord, civic, odyssey, pilot and other models. check with your d

. >>> we will check in with courtney reagan right now with the business headlines. >> stocks are higheright now. this is the first that we have seen this situation or at least that we held for this entire week. it's been a rough week. the dow was up in the first hours of trade, and oil prices continue to slide down. and it's good for prices at the pump, it's not good to a global economic level. now, there's a lot of other economic data today so i want to run through some of the highlights. we have seen a glimmer of hope for the labor department. jobless claims dropped to 366,000, however wholesale prices picked up. so that's the producer price index, and that measures price changes before they reach consumers. and for the 12 months ending in november, prices are up 5.7%. and then the measure of manufacturing in new york cista and that's up. the insurance institute for highway safety. every major carmaker had at least one vehicle that got the top grade. one reason for the top marks this year, manufacturers redesign roofs to make cars able to withstand roleovl over crash. >>> all of the s

back to you. >> courtney reagan, thank you. we'll have more on holiday sales a little bit later on. >>> lowe's home improvement is sparking outrage after its pulled its ads from a reality show about american muslims on the learning channel. the retail giant bowed to pressure from an evangelical christian group which called for a boycott against the chain of home improvement stores. lowe's apologized for making some people very unhappy on sunday but it did not say if it would reinstate its ads. a california state senator, meanwhile, says he is considering a boycott and legislative action if the company does not reverse its decision. >>> it is 7:13 right now. you're up to date. let's turn it back over to matt, ann and al. >> hey, mr. roker. >> we got some stuff going on out west. low pressure system making its way into southern california bringing rain in southern california and some heavier mountain snows back through the southwest. rainfall amounts generally about one to two inches from los angeles to san diego, back into phoen

cnbc's courtney reagan is at the new york stock exchange. bad day yesterday, courtney. what's it looking like today? >> yeah, that's right, natalie. we've said it before and will say it again, headlines out of europe continue to steer trading here in the united states, and investors remain concerned that the solution that the european leaders came up with to solve the region's debt crisis may not be the best solution. meantime, a survey by manpower shows that hiring prospects are the best since we've seen before the financial meltdown of 2008. however, uncertainty about those staffing levels are also elevated at the highest level since 2005. natalie, back to you. >> all right, courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange. we'll be watching what happens there today. >>> and verizon had central new jersey cell phone users in a panic on monday after the company sent a text message to customers warning of a "extraordinary threat to life and property," telling people to "take shelter now." the messages were signed "u.s. govern," leading many people to believe they were off

cnbc's courtney reagan reports on a growing trend.gstore christmas. >> reporter: drug stores are their shelves this holiday season, hoping to cash in on a new breed of shoppers. stores like cvs, wall greens and rite aid now offer more gift items than ever before. >> this year we have a 20% increase over last year which is quite dramatic. it shows the consumers starting to spend more money overall. in particular, we're getting a bigger increase at the drug stores. >> reporter: from opportunity expected electronics like televisions and ereaders to toys and even gift cards. they're not item shoppers think of when going to a drugstore. >> you wouldn't think people go to a drugstore to buy a item but it shows consumers are going to drug chains to buy any category. and they find it in particular, very convenient to buy gifts in drug chains. >> reporter: here at cvs, there are two aisles devoted to gifts. people find it more convenient for holiday shopping and that's a trend that is translating into higher same store sales for the drug store

courtney reagan, good to see you. i love that store. that's going to do it for me today.eekend. i appreciate your time. i'll see you back here on monday at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. until then follow me on twitter @thomasaj roberts. "now" with lakes wagner comes next. so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pa

. >>> to wall street, cnbc's courtney reagan is at the stock exchange. >> the markets remain focused on the headlines out of europe as italy gets set to sell billions of dollars worth of government bonds today. many investors are still on those holiday sidelines. tuesday was the lightest trading day so far this year. perhaps those investors are shopping online instead. holiday spending online totalled $35 billion through december 26th, marking a 15% increase from last year. carl? >> thank you very much, courtney. >>> three classic american films have been named national treasures and entered into the world's largest film archives. "forest gump," "silence of the lambs" and "bambi" are selected for their "enduring significance to american culture." this selection included early silent films from 1912. >>> and what do you give a cranky half-ton crocodile named elvis? whatever he wants. in this case elvis wanted a running lawnmower so he sunk his teeth and dragged it down into his pool and once the 16-footer won the tug-of-war he wouldn't give it up, guarding his prize for hour. the king

courtney reagan is at the new york stock exchange. good morning to you, courtney.>> reporter: it's been a rough couple of months actually. today the telecom sector will likely be in focus. at&t is dropping its $39 billion bid to buy t-mobile in the face of pretty fierce objections from both competitors and u.s. regulators. meantime, investors will also be watching shares of bank of america. the stock closed below $5 for the first time in two years yesterday. and economic data is relatively light. a handful of consumer companies will be reporting earnings today. back to you, natalie. >> courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thank you. >>> there are no signs of a power struggle in pyongyang as north koreans mourn the death of leader kim jong-il. the possibility of a contested transition of power has heightened tensions in the region but state media are indicating that kim's youngest son, kim jong-un, will succeed his father. >>> lori barenson who spent 15 years in prison in peru will spend the holidays here with her family. this is her first time back. she

now courtney reagan is at the new york stock exchange. all eyes on the jobs report out today. >> that's right. investors are looking to the government's november jobs report to provide some kind of direction to the market. economists had been ramping up their forecasts after a private sector employment report was better than expected earlier this week. elsewhere, traders look forward to next week and a handful of meetings between european leaders as they work to solve the debt crisis. next week marks the first full week of december trading. many are hoping for a santa claus rally to close out the year. >> the new national christmas tree is bringing a holiday glow to the nation's capital. president obama and his family took part in the tree lighting ceremony last night with a little help from kermit the frog and santa. the tree was planted in march to replace one toppled by high winds. >>> they don't call them dare devils for nothing. two motorcycles showing off their skills. one stuntman slammed head first into a car flying 80 feet into t

courtney reagan is at the new york stock exchange. >> good morning to you, natalie. once again investor also look to global news to guide the market action here today in the u.s. north korean leader kim jong-il's passing really roiled asian markets sending the kospi index of south korea down as much as 5% because of the uncertainty surrounding the next leader, kim jong-un. meantime, european debt crisis is still in focus. european central bank president mario draghi is set to speak to an economic committee later today. watch for headlines out of that speech to move markets. >> courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thank you. >>> celebration turned to horror as a runaway cart rolled across the stadium. officials believe someone failed to turn off the engine. seven people were injured, none of them seriously before somebody finally was able to put a stop to the vehicle. it is awful to see that. 7:19, back over to ann, carl and al. >> looks like the orange things got stuck as well. mr. roker is here with the forecast. hey you. >> we're talking blizzard conditi

. >>> cnbc's courtney reagan, last market day of the year, hope it's going to be a good one. >> i hope so, too. we have to wait and see. there's going to be pretty light volume today as we've seen most of the week not totally unexpected in a holiday week. it's going to be the battle for break even when it comes down to the wire. the s&p 500 is about where we started the year and that's the benchmark for traders. the dow is up 6%, the tech heavy $dak downnasdaq is down 1.5%. back to you. >>> as north korea hands over power to kim jong-il's son, pyongyang is declaring other nations should not expect any change. this is the image from kim jong-il's funeral, sent from north korea to the world, a bright snowy day, mourners lined up in the row to see the hearse pass by. this is the aftermath. this camera crew suddenly appears and another image causing head scratching is what appears to be a giant soldier, another example of creative imagery or some speculate it could be 7'9" north korean r ri yun han. those are big mysteries. i want to know on your birthday how he managed to stay so young lo