This holiday season, a leaner budget might clarify which people truly make a difference in your life. The challenge will be figuring out how much to tip them.

San Francisco Bay Area home prices rose for the first time since November 2007 as fewer foreclosures were sold, MDA DataQuick said.

Mark Holbrook helped fuel a church construction boom by making more than $3 billion of mortgages in the past decade. He transformed a $2 million credit union he joined after Bible college into the largest U.S. evangelical lender.

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- MetroPCS Communications Inc., the pay-as-you-go mobile-phone carrier, should purchase Leap Wireless International Inc. to “unlock” $2 billion of value, according to analysts at Pali Capital Inc.

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Manny Pacquiao proved he can be a box office hit. Now it's up to Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. to see what they can do together.

When it comes to giving the U.S. taxpayers their money back, it's time for Wells Fargo & Co. to put up or shut up.

Investors are wondering just how far Congress will go toward breaking up big banks. The answer may depend on the outcome of the health care debate.

Americans believe our legal system is the crown jewel of our democracy, at least until we come across a really despicable savage like Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Then we seek Wild West justice, the rougher the better. Hang the monster from the highest tree.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Salvation Army plans to serve 10,000 free dinners across New York City this Thanksgiving. The meals are being planned by a star chef, will be cooked by one of New York's ritziest caterers and will cleaned up by employees of one of Wall Street's most vilified financial firms.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Federal attorneys want a judge to declare that Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Mel Blount owes more than $631,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- J.M. Smucker Co. nearly tripled its profit in the second quarter as the addition of Folgers coffee gave a jolt to its lineup and lower commodity prices fattened its profit margins.

LONDON (AP) -- World stock markets fell Friday amid mounting concerns about the pace of the U.S. economic recovery following a disappointing earnings update from computer maker Dell Inc.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (AP) -- Motorola Inc. said Friday that it has purchased the base station business of RadioFrame Networks Inc., which uses a technology that allows walkie-talkie features on cell phones.

PARIS (AP) -- Media and entertainment conglomerate Vivendi SA is nearing a decision on whether to sell its stake in NBC Universal and clear the way for the creation of one of the most powerful media companies in the world.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Global Defense Technology & Systems shares were little changed after its initial public offering priced below expectations.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market ended a down week with light selling as investors grew uneasy about a rising dollar and spiking demand for the safest government debt.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Shelley Moore Capito says she's troubled by what she heard in a meeting with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece's new center-left government pledged to pull the economy out of "intensive care," but conceded Friday that public debt would continue to surge, reaching a massive 120 percent of annual national output next year.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York lawmakers headed home Thursday without agreement on how to address the state's fiscal crisis.

Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Steel production in China, the worldís largest maker and consumer, may outpace demand growth this year, spurring exports in the last two months, the China Iron & Steel Association said.

Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- James Murdoch, head of News Corp.ís European and Asian unit, said the company will charge for digital content, seeking to rebuild the newspaper industry and create “incredible opportunities” for digital journalism.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's attorney general has sued the three credit ratings agencies alleging that they gave unjustifiably high ratings to mortgage-backed securities that lost at least $457 million for five Ohio public pension funds.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Oprah Winfrey says her powerhouse daytime television show will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Natural gas prices have dropped by more than 15 percent in the past month as the country continues to sip at its energy reserves and a balmy November allowed many homeowners to leave the heat off.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A foot model in New York City is suing her upscale apartment building, claiming the co-op board is trying to force her out because she married its former doorman.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Some of the computer industry's biggest players -- such as IBM Corp., Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. -- have wowed Wall Street this fall with stronger-than-expected profits.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The safe-haven dollar kept rising Friday and Treasury yields hovered around their lows for the year as worries about the economy in 2010 continued to weigh on traders' taste for risky bets.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of 7 Days Group Holdings Ltd. soared on Friday after the discount lodging chain's initial public offering priced at the high end of an expected range.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Choppers and cheese may soon become official Wisconsin symbols.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a sharp improvement, more than half of U.S. states added jobs in October, though economists said many of the gains likely occurred in temporary employment.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Nevada's unemployment rate dipped in October, but economists cautioned Friday that while the figures are encouraging, they're more a reflection of a shrinking job market than job creation.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's nomination to a second term will be the subject of a Senate Banking Committee hearing next month, the panel's chairman said Friday.

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's government says the economy grew 2.93 pct in 3rd quarter, marking and end to the recession.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Confronted with an ever-growing pile of old newspapers, Taiwanese fashion designer Colin Lin came up with the idea of using them to make shoes and tote bags for her environmentally friendly footwear company.

TOKYO (AP) -- Sony's new online service connecting the whole range of its gadgets to downloadable content like movies and games should help build brand loyalty, a top executive said Friday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's foreign minister ruled out Friday additional negotiations with the United States over a free trade agreement, a day after presidents of the two countries vowed cooperation to push the stalled deal forward.