NEW YORK (AP) -- Crude oil prices dipped to their lowest levels in more than a month Friday, falling below $89 a barrel as investors sold amid signs of weakening demand and expectations that OPEC will boost production next week.

The slide in oil may mean consumers will see relief at the pump soon, analysts said. Gasoline and heating oil futures also dropped.

It was quite a turnaround for crude, which began the week pushing $100 a barrel but ended it by falling to its lowest levels since Oct. 25.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell $2.30 to settle at $88.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude prices are more than $10 below Monday's high of $99.11 a barrel and the all-time high of $99.29 a barrel set last week. Prices continued falling Friday after the Nymex closed, dropping as low as $88.45 in electronic trading.

Oil's downturn is good news for consumers, who will likely see lower gas prices in coming days, said Tom

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. confirmed its plans to bid for a prized piece of the airwaves in an upcoming government auction, further underscoring the Internet search leader's determination to shake up the wireless market and plumb more profits from mobile phones.

Friday's announcement wasn't a bombshell because the Mountain View-based company previously signaled it might participate in the Federal Communications Commission auction scheduled to begin Jan. 24.

In a mild surprise, Google will enter the competition without a partner more experienced in the wireless industry.

Going it alone will be expensive and potentially risky, even for a company as rich and technologically adept as Google, which ended September with about $13 billion in cash.

The bidding for the swath of 700 megahertz spectrum that Google wants will start at $4.6 billion, with analysts predicting the final price will be substantially higher. Building out the network for national coverage might cost an additional $5 billion to $7.5 billion, based on estimates from Citigroup Global markets analyst Michael Rollins.

Lingering questions about how the possible wireless expansion might affect Google's finances and focus

NEW YORK (AP) -- E-Trade Financial Corp., which flirted with collapse amid the growing mortgage crisis, said Thursday it is getting a $2.55 billion cash infusion from Citadel Investment Group in a bid to revive the battered discount brokerage.

Citadel, one of the nation's largest hedge funds, plans to buy E-Trade's troubled asset-backed securities portfolio and take it off the brokerage's books. Hemorrhaging in that portfolio caused massive writedowns since the summer, and triggered panic that further losses would push E-Trade into bankruptcy.

The deal also forced E-Trade's embattled chief executive, Mitch Caplan, out of the job he's held since 2003. He'll be replaced on an interim basis by President and Chief Operating Officer Jarrett Lilien. Former JPMorgan Chase & Co. vice chairman Donald Layton will become non-executive chairman.

It is the latest managerial shakeup at a financial house in the past few months as Wall Street suffered dramatic losses when borrowers with shaky credit began defaulting on their loans, sending credit markets into disarray. Earlier this month Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal and Citigroup Inc. head Charles Prince were forced out of their jobs.

Lilien said the deal with Citadel will not impede any future strategic moves, and that he's still quite

Today, I want to look at three top industries and the stocks in those industries that represent the best opportunities for investors. Some industry groups feature a plethora of high, PowerRatings stocks. However it is more often the case that even the most attractive industries, those industries with PowerRatings of 9 or 10, have only one or two stocks with similarly high, 9 or 10 PowerRatings.

When we find a top rated industry, we have two main options when looking to take advantage of that industry's prospects. One option is to keep a watch list of stocks that have good, but not great PowerRatings, such as a 7. The idea here is to keep an eye out to see if these 7-rated stocks will make it to the Recent Upgrades list that we publish daily at PowerRatings.net. Often, investors can catch a great opportunity by waiting for a 7-rated stock in an attractive industry to get upgraded to an 8, a 9 or even a 10.

The second option is, of course, to simply look to skim off the top of a given high-rated industry. Look at the "View All Stocks" option and see what stocks in that industry are "in the green" with PowerRatings (for Investors) ratings of 8, 9, or 10. Those are the "best of breed" stocks in that industry, and where your focus as an investor should go and remain until the stock's PowerRating slips from the "green end" back

How to earn more money after you've retired

Ready to retire but worried that you won't have enough money? Don't play the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game. Even now it's not too late to increase your income and your financial security.

1. Consider working a little longer. For the average worker, staying on the job for just two more years lowers the amount of savings you need to finance your retirement by about 25%, estimates the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Not only do you get the benefit of the additional income, but you also get a few more years to sock away money and accrue pension and Social Security benefits.

2. Build tax-free retirement income. Contribute to a Roth IRA while you're working. If you're 50 or older next year, you and your spouse can each contribute up to $6,000 to Roth accounts--$5,000 in basic contributions plus a $1,000 catch-up-as long as you meet income requirements (in 2008, your income can't exceed $169,000 if you're married filing jointly or $116,000 if you're single). [link to Roth stories]

3. Downsize. Financial advisers generally recommend that you assume you'll need about 85% of your pre-retirement income after you leave your job. But it pays to do a budget dry run. By paying off your

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil futures eked out a small gain Thursday, rebounding from two days of sharp declines after a fire at a pipeline serving the Midwest raised new supply concerns.

The fire late Wednesday along the Enbridge Energy Partners LP Lakehead pipeline in northern Minnesota, which carries crude oil from Saskatchewan to the Chicago area, killed two repair workers. After a brief shutdown, most of the pipeline was quickly returned to service and the fire-damaged section was expected to be back up in days.

An offer by the government to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if needed, helped calm markets.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 39 cents to settle at $91.01 a barrel in choppy trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but that was down from an overnight spike of $95.17 on early reports of the fire. The gain followed a two-day downturn on concerns about weakening economic growth and a view that supplies are on the rise.

The Enbridge pipeline actually consists of four separate conduits. After the fire, all were shut down for a while, but two carrying a total of 680,000 barrels of crude a day were restarted Thursday morning, said

DALLAS (AP) -- Dell Inc. said earnings grew 27 percent in the third quarter, buoyed by growth in overseas markets like Brazil and by prices falling for memory chips and other components.

The results fell just shy of analyst expectations.

Dell, which posted results after markets closed Thursday, earned $766 million, or 34 cents per share, in the three months ended Nov. 2. That was up from $601 million, or 27 cents per share, in revised figures from the same quarter a year ago. Revenue grew 9 percent to $15.64 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting the Round Rock company to post profits of 35 cents per share on revenue of $15.34 billion.

Shares in Dell rose almost 2 percent in regular trading Thursday to close at $28.14. But trading was heavy after hours, with shares falling almost 10 percent, reaching $25.33 at one point.

In the company's first earnings conference call with analysts in over a year, Dell CFO Don Carty and founder and CEO Michael Dell both predicted more restructuring costs for the future. These will include

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday hinted that another interest rate cut may be needed to bolster the economy. The worsening credit crunch, a deepening housing slump and rising energy prices probably will create some "headwinds for the consumer in the months ahead," he said.

Bernanke said he expects consumer spending will continue to grow and suggested the country can withstand the current problems without falling into a recession. But he indicated that consumers could turn more cautious as they try to cope with all the stresses.

The odds have grown that the country could enter a recession. A sharp cutback in consumer spending could send the economy into a tailspin. Against this backdrop, Fed policymakers will need to be "exceptionally alert and flexible," Bernanke said.

That comment probably will be viewed as a sign the Fed may lower interest rates when it meets on Dec. 11, its last session of the year.

Twice this year the central bank has trimmed rates to keep the housing collapse and credit crunch from

Several ways to overcome a lineup of expensive, lackluster mutual funds

In the past several years, retirement plans have been busy adding mutual funds and expanding investment options. But more isn't always better.

"There are still very few 401(k) plans with a lot of investment options we'd enthusiastically recommend," said Paul Merriman, of Merriman Capital Management, a registered investment adviser in Seattle.

So what if your defined-contribution plan at work features a lineup of mutual funds that seems lackluster?

"I've never run across a 401(k) plan so bad that I would discourage someone from using it completely," said Raymond Benton, a longtime Denver-based adviser. "You should at least be able to find one fund to invest in."

And that's important, as Merriman says, because "you want to take advantage of any matching contributions by your employer."

So rather than compound the problem by making lousy choices within a lousy 401(k) plan, you can make

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil's rise to $100 a barrel, which seemed a done deal as recently as two days ago, was dealt a severe blow Wednesday when the government reported an increase in supplies at the Nymex delivery terminal in Cushing, Okla., which is closely watched by traders as a benchmark of oil inventory tightness.

Anemic growth in demand and a jump in refinery activity also weighed on prices, which have dropped sharply in recent days on concerns about the economy and expectations supplies will grow.

"The report ... added to the bearish sentiment in the market," said Eric Wittenauer, an energy analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. "It comes at a period in time when OPEC is boosting production ... and considering another increase in production."

Light, sweet crude for January delivery plunged $3.80 to settle at $90.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following Tuesday's drop of $3.28 a barrel.

That was crude's second largest two-day price decline since the Nymex introduced a futures contract in 1983. On Oct. 19 and 22, 1990, crude prices dropped $8.42.

The latest price is $8.67, or 8.7 percent, below the record price of $99.29 set last week.

BERLIN (AP) -- Business confidence in Germany rose in November for the first time since April, a closely watched survey showed Tuesday -- defying analyst expectations for Europe's largest economy.

Separately, the government estimated Germany's annual inflation rose to 3 percent this month -- its highest level in more than 13 years -- due to high prices for oil products, food and beverages.

Data from Germany are important to interest rate decisions by the European Central Bank, which has kept open the possibility of raising its rates even as the U.S. Federal Reserve cuts the cost of borrowing.

Germany's Ifo institute said its business climate index rose slightly to 104.2 from 103.9 in October, after slipping for six straight months. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected another decline to 103.4.

Companies assessed their current situation more positively than in October, but were "somewhat more cautious" regarding the six-month business outlook, Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn said.

"The results indicate that the currently strong economy is only gradually cooling," Sinn said.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of national banks moved higher Tuesday after Citigroup Inc. said it would receive a $7.5 billion investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Punk Ziegel & Co. analyst Richard Bove upgraded the bank.

Shares of Citigroup rose 53 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $30.33 in midday trading.

The Gulf Arab state will receive up to a 4.9 percent stake in Citigroup for its $7.5 billion investment.

Bove upgraded Citigroup to a "Buy" from "Market Perform," saying the company's dividend is likely well protected and that it's moving toward improving operations.

"The franchise value of this company may be the highest of any bank in the world and an active effort is under way to improve operations and it will be successful," Bove wrote in a research note.

But not all analysts are convinced the infusion of capital will be enough. CIBC World Markets Corp. analyst Meredith Whitney said in a research note the investment is only a first step for Citigroup improving its capital base. Citigroup will also likely need to sell assets and cut its dividend to improve cash flow, Whitney

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Freddie Mac halved its dividend and unveiled plans to sell $6 billion of preferred stock to bolster the mortgage investor's finances in anticipation of more losses, the company said Tuesday.

Freddie Mac, chartered by Congress to buy home loans from mortgage lenders, is the nation's No. 2 buyer and guarantor of home loans. It will sell $6 billion of a special class of stock.

The money raised through this sale will be used to buttress the company's balance sheet "in light of actual and anticipated losses," Freddie said in a statement.

Management of the stock offering was led by Lehman Brothers Inc. and Goldman Sachs & Co., the Wall Street firms recently hired by Freddie Mac as financial advisers to help it examine possible new ways of raising capital.

The company's board declared a dividend of 25 cents for the fourth quarter, compared with a dividend of 50 cents in the third quarter. The company said it needed the dividend cut -- its first since it became a public company in 1989 -- to hold on to enough cash to maintain its financial flexibility and satisfy regulators.

In 2004, McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac agreed with its regulator, the Office of Federal Housing

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices plunged Tuesday, picking up downward momentum amid concerns that a slowing economy might reduce demand for crude just as OPEC members are considering an increase in production. Prices were also pressured by apparent progress at the Mideast peace summit in Annapolis, Md.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery dropped $3.28 to settle at $94.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract is nearly $5 below its all-time high of $99.29 set last week.

Stocks dropped sharply Monday, reigniting worries among energy traders that the economy is slowing and will use less oil and gasoline. Wall Street rebounded Tuesday, but the oil market was still clearly uneasy.

Both the International Energy Agency, an energy policy adviser to 26 predominantly Western industrialized nations, and OPEC have recently cut their demand forecasts for the rest of this year and next year, in part because of high prices.

Meanwhile, there is increasing evidence that Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil ministers will decide at a meeting next week to boost production, and a number of reports suggest several OPEC

NEW YORK (AP) -- Treasury prices rallied dramatically Monday on more credit concerns, pushing the benchmark 10-year note's yield down to its lowest level in two and a half years.

Trading was dominated by a fresh set of worries about the impact of deteriorating below prime home loans on the credit and housing sectors; those concerns led investors away from risk and to again seek the safety of government bonds.

HSBC Holdings PLC Monday said it will move two of its structured investment vehicles, which contain some asset pools with exposure to sour home loans, onto its balance sheet. In the past many banks have kept structured investment vehicles off their balance sheets, obscuring their subprime problems.

HSBC also said it will provide up to $35 billion in funding for the SIVs. HSBC doesn't expect a near-term resolution of the funding problems faced by the vehicles that it and other banks hold.

There also are concerns that Citigroup Inc. needs to put its collateralized debt obligations onto its balance