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The first official holiday retail weekend closes with Cyber Monday, a day that didn't exist before online stores.

Some argue that it's a recent tradition whose days are numbered, but Apple Inc. and major retailers are doing their part to keep it alive with special deals.

Cyber Monday was born back when not many Americans had high-speed Internet access at home and large numbers of them logged in for their online holiday shopping at the office on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

But an estimated 60 percent of U.S. homes now have broadband access to the Web, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, meaning fewer have to do their online shopping at work.

And a report from Neilsen earlier this month showed the number of people in the U.S. who plan to shop online has dropped this year to 63 percent, down 10 points from two years ago. The number of people who said they will do no online shopping rose to 7 percent from 1 percent in that same time frame.

But retailers are still offering special online deals Monday, including an offer from Cupertino-based Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) of free shipping on any item purchased for more than $50.

Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) is offering steep discounts on some PCs as well as free shipping on orders that cost more than $59.99. HP, however, didn't actually wait to launch its Cyber Monday specials on the first day of the work week, launching its specials on Sunday and making them good until Wednesday.

Other major online retailers offering Cyber Monday specials are Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

The National Retail Federation has launched a Web site that aggregates all of the special offers in one place in an effort to promote the unofficial shopping holiday. It can be accessed here.

While the NRF says the number of shoppers who say they will buy something online at work this season has dropped (68.8 million in 2009 vs. 72.8 million in 2008), the number of retailers making Cyber Monday promotions has gone up (87.7 percent this year vs. 83.7 percent last year.).

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A key measure of consumer confidence gained slightly in November, snapping a two-month declining streak, a research group said Tuesday.

The Conference Board, the New York-based research group, said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 49.5 in November from an upwardly revised 48.7 in October.

Economists were expecting the index to dip to 47.5, according to a Briefing.com consensus survey. The figure, which is based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. households, is closely watched because consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity.

The overall index remains at historically low levels. A reading above 90 indicates the economy is solid, and 100 or above signals strong growth.

Despite the modestly upbeat figure, Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board, said "consumers are entering the holiday season in a very frugal mood."

The index component that evaluates consumers’ judgment of the present situation was virtually unchanged, slipping to 21 in November from 21.1 the previous month. The measure stands at the lowest level since the 17.5 measured in February 1983.

Consumers’ assessment of the job market also continued to deteriorate. The percentage of those claiming that jobs are currently hard to get reached a new high of 49.8%, while the number of consumers claiming that jobs are "plentiful" hit a new low at 3.2%.

Employers continued to cut jobs from their payrolls in October, as the unemployment rate rose to 10.2% and hit another 26-year high last month, according to a report from the Labor Department.

The percentage of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined to 10% from 10.7%.

Despite their current outlook, however, consumers are optimistic about a recovery.

The expectation index, which measures consumers’ outlook over the next few months, climbed to 68 payday loan no fax no credit check.5 from 67 last month.

Franco said the "moderate improvement was a result of a decrease in the percent of consumers expecting business and labor market conditions to worsen, as opposed to an increase in the percent of consumers expecting conditions to improve."

While the percentage of those expecting the job market to improve edged down to 15.2% from 16.8%, the percentage of consumers expecting fewer jobs dropped to 23.1% from 26.1%.

Likewise, the percentage of consumers expecting an improvement in business conditions over the next six months dropped to 20% from 20.8%, but those expecting conditions to worsen decreased to 15.1% to 18.2%.

But even the "underlying data is abysmal," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo.

"Fewer people think things will get worse, which isn’t very comforting. You’d have to be a real pessimist to think things will get worse than they already are," said Vitner, adding that the consumers’ assessment of the economy might be "overly bleak."

Given the amount of stimulus the government has pumped into the economy, Vitner said he is "disappointed that this is all we’re getting in consumer sentiment for economic recovery."

For a healthier reading, Vitner said consumers need to believe jobs will be created and incomes will rise so they will increase spending.

The data followed a government report that said GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity, rose at an annual rate of 2.8% in the third quarter of this year, less than the 3.5% it originally reported. 

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Consumer confidence in Italy unexpectedly rose in November after the economy emerged from its worst recession since World War II.

The Isae Institute’s consumer confidence index climbed to 112.8 from 111.7 in October, the Rome-based research center Isae said today in an e-mailed statement. Economists had forecast a drop to 111.5 for this month, the median of 13 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed.

“There is a widespread perception that the crisis is over and this is an encouraging sign,” said Luigi Speranza, an economist at BNP Paribas in London. “However, consumers are still cautious about the purchase of durable goods and the outlook for t employment, leaving a question mark on consumer spending in the months ahead.”

Italy’s economy emerged from its fourth recession since 2001 in the third quarter as the recovery in Europe boosted exports, and growth may accelerate to more than 1 percent in 2010, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said yesterday. Government stimulus measures, particularly car trade-in incentives, helped buffer the drop in consumer spending and benefited Fiat Spa, the country’s biggest manufacturer.

Those incentives are due to be phased out and unemployment is still rising, which may weigh on confidence in the coming months. The jobless rate may exceed 8 pay day advance.5 percent in 2010 from 7.4 percent in the second quarter, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said last week.

Holiday Spending

Those job concerns may slow consumer spending during the holiday season, hurting reatailers such as department story operator Coin SpA. A third of Italians say they will not buy planned Christmas presents this year, according to a survey released yesterday by retailers lobby Confcommercio. More than 11 percent said they still don’t know whether they will spend as much as last year on gifts, Confcommercio said.

“The pace of job destruction in Italy has started to slow,” Marco Valli, chief economist at UniCredit Mib in Milan, said on Nov. 23. “However, given the huge amount of slack in the labor market, genuine employment growth is a matter of 2011 at the earliest.”

Italian optimism contrasts with the mood in Germany. Consumer confidence in Europe’s biggest economy unexpectedly fell in November for a second month as households grew concerned about job security, a separate report said today.

Isae conducted its confidence survey between Nov. 2 and Nov. 17.

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Immigrants face lower wages and are more likely than Canadian-born workers to be forced into temporary or part-time jobs, according to a new study.

The report from Statistics Canada, made public Monday, also found newcomers tend to end up in jobs for which they are overqualified.

Immigrants who landed in Canada 10 years ago or more tend to fare better, with their work experience more closely resembling that of people who were born here.

The report, based on data from last year’s labour market, found that the average weekly hours worked by immigrants in their main job was 38.3, only slightly higher than the 38.1 hours of Canadian-born workers.

The average hourly wage of a Canadian-born employee aged from 25 to 54 was $23.72, compared with $21.44 for an immigrant worker, a difference of $2.28 an hour, Statistics Canada noted.

The widest gap, $5.04 per hour, involved immigrants who had landed within the previous five years, the paper said, but the overall wage gap existed "regardless of when the immigrants landed." It narrows to $1.32 for immigrants in Canada for a decade or longer.

The difference in wages between immigrant workers and Canadian-born colleagues was widest among those with university degrees, with immigrants earning an average of $25.31 an hour, about $5 less than Canadian-born counterparts.

Immigrants with multiple jobs worked an average of 50 hours per week in 2008, about 2.3 hours longer than Canadians who hold down more than one job, StatsCan said.

Among part-time workers, 38 per cent of newcomers said working part-time was involuntary, higher than the 30 per cent of Canadian-born workers who agreed. Last year, 9.7 per cent of newcomers were in temporary positions, slightly more than the 8.3 per cent of Canadian-born employees.

The report also found 42 per cent of immigrant workers 25-54 had a higher education level for their job than normally required, while 28 per cent of Canadian-born workers were similarly overqualified.

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Swiss food giant Nestle may consider a bid for Britain’s Cadbury to challenge a hostile 9.9 billion-pound bid by Kraft Foods Inc and a potential move by Hershey, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

Nestle was still weighing its options and could decide against a bid, Bloomberg said, citing two unnamed people with knowledge of the matter.

Nestle declined to comment on Sunday.

Italian chocolate maker Ferrero and U.S.-based Hershey, have teamed up and said on Wednesday they were reviewing a possible offer for Cadbury.

Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore has reported that Hershey executives will go to Italy to hold a definitive meeting with Ferrero in the coming days.

Ferrero was not available for a comment.

Meanwhile, Cadbury’s Chairman Roger Carr told the Sunday Telegraph his group would prefer a merger with U.S. chocolate maker Hershey rather than Kraft. But he added both bids could fail should they not be generous enough.

COMPETITION HEADACHE

Analysts had been viewing Nestle as a potential suitor for Cadbury. But such a deal may face some antitrust hurdles.

Nestle said in October it was likely to exercise its option beginning in January 2010 to sell its remaining 52 percent stake in Alcon, potentially raising up to $28 billion, so it could easily afford big buys fast payday loans.

The Swiss giant has declined to comment on Cadbury so far. It has said it does not plan any big acquisitions this year or next, but will focus on a strategy of “bolt-on” buys.

Due to competition issues, analysts had speculated that the Swiss company might consider a joint offer with U.S.-based Hershey Co, with the U.S. group seeking Cadbury’s chocolate interests and leaving Nestle with the Trident chewing gum business.

But Nestle has been silent since Hershey and Italy’s Ferrero said separately on Wednesday they were considering a bid.

Some market players have suggested Nestle could still help Hershey fund a bid by buying its U.S. license for the KitKat brand, potentially worth around $3 billion to 3.5 billion.

The Cadbury riddle is a difficult one to solve as virtually all players would face antitrust issues if they move, said an M&A expert who declined to be named.

(Writing by Lisa Jucca and Emma Thomasson; additional reporting by Jo Winterbottom in Milan; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer’s disease. AIDS. Flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler’s diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it.

Many could be on the market in five years or less.

Contrast that with five years ago, when so many companies had abandoned the business that half the U.S. supply of flu shots was lost because of factory contamination at one of the two manufacturers left.

Vaccines are no longer a sleepy, low-profit niche. Today, they’re starting to give ailing pharmaceutical makers a shot in the arm.

The lure of big profit, advances in technology and growing government support has been drawing in new companies, from nascent biotechs to Johnson & Johnson. That means recent remarkable strides in overcoming dreaded diseases and annoying afflictions likely will continue.

"Even if a small portion of everything that’s going on now is successful in the next 10 years, you put that together with the last 10 years (and) it’s going to be characterized as a golden era," says Emilio Emini, Pfizer Inc.’s head of vaccine research. Pfizer has a facility in Chesterfield.

Vaccines now are viewed as a crucial path to growth, as drugmakers look for ways to bolster slowing prescription medicine sales amid intensifying generic competition and government pressure to cut down prices.

Unlike medicines that treat diseases, vaccines help prevent infections by revving up the body’s natural immune defenses against invaders. They are made from viruses, bacteria or parts of them that have been killed or weakened so they can’t cause an infection.

Investment in partnerships and other deals to develop and manufacture vaccines has been on a tear — and accelerating since the swine flu pandemic began. Billions in government grants are bringing better, faster ways to develop and manufacture vaccines. Rising worldwide emphasis on preventive care, plus the advent of the first multibillion-dollar vaccines, have further boosted appeal.

While prescription drug sales are forecast to rise by a third in five years, vaccine sales should double, from $19 billion last year to $39 billion in 2013, according to market research firm Kalorama Information. That’s five times the $8 billion in 2004.

"What was essentially 25 years ago a rounding error now has become real money," says Robin Robinson, director of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority.

That jump is due to a couple of new blockbuster vaccines and rising use of existing ones. The government’s list of recommended vaccines for children has more than doubled since 1985 to 17. It now also calls for a half-dozen vaccines for everyone over 18, and up to four more for adults.

The last decade brought vaccines against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus — two of the world’s top killers — meningitis, cervical cancer and more.

Better technology to create and mass produce vaccines is bringing progress in preventing tropical dengue fever and new threats like superbugs MRSA and C. difficile, even ending addiction to cocaine and nicotine. Success on some vaccines in development, particularly for Alzheimer’s and AIDS, likely would bring billions a year in sales.

Just this fall and early next year, swine flu vaccines are expected to bring their makers at least a couple billion extra dollars.

But a horde of biotech companies, many using multimillion-dollar government grants, already are testing state-of-the-art technology for the next pandemic. Scientists — including some at J&J’s new vaccine partner, Holland’s Crucell — even are working to develop the holy grail: a universal flu vaccine targeting a part of the virus that doesn’t change year to year.

And some future vaccines will come in patches, pills and nasal sprays, rather than painful shots.

Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline is gunning to become the world’s top vaccine manufacturer by revenue, unseating Merck. Glaxo, which sold only one vaccine in the U.S. 13 years ago, now sells 12 here — and 30 worldwide. It has 20 more in testing, including ones for meningitis and malaria.

J&J, which previously avoided vaccines, plans to build a full vaccine portfolio, starting with universal flu and Alzheimer’s vaccines, says research head Dr. Paul Stoffels.

Even Pfizer Inc.’s $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth in October was partly about getting its vaccine expertise. Wyeth makes the most successful vaccine ever, Prevnar, which protects children from ear infections, pneumonia and blood infections. Prevnar brought in $2.7 billion in 2008 sales.

Experts call Prevnar the "game changer." It was the first vaccine to exceed $1 billion in annual sales, followed by Merck’s cervical cancer shot Gardasil, with $2.3 billion in 2008 sales.

"Vaccines are now perhaps seen to be more attractive than drugs," says Dr. Stanley Plotkin, a former University of Pennsylvania professor and industry researcher who helped develop the German measles and rotavirus vaccines.

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If AOL’s announcement on Thursday of another 2,500 job cuts is anything to go by, the painful layoffs that have ravaged the media industry over the past year are nowhere near over.

Even though U.S. media conglomerates have largely reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and their CEOs are touting a long-awaited uptick in advertising spending, analysts and recruiters warn that more cost cuts lie ahead.

Much of the earnings upside came from lower costs instead of revenue growth, meaning future improvement could be more challenging as these companies face comparisons against year-ago periods when restructurings were already in place.

“I think many of these major companies have cut to the point that it is starting to affect their operations,” said Hal Vogel, head of trading and consulting firm Vogel Capital Management.

He did not believe there was an immediate need for a large round of cuts but said, “Out of the woods we are not.”

AOL on Thursday said it would cut one-third of its workforce to reduce annual costs by $300 million, as part of the Internet media company’s planned spin-off from Time Warner Inc in December.

The cuts come after an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people have lost jobs at major media companies like General Electric Co’s NBC Universal, Viacom Inc, Walt Disney Co, Sony Corp and others since 2008.

“There’s no studio that hasn’t cut significantly. It’s understood that most of those jobs aren’t coming back,” said Standard and Poor’s analyst Tuna Amobi.

Some recruiters, job tracking experts and economists cite hiring upticks in certain areas like cable networks and the digital arms of studios check cash advance.

But even then, challenging consumer spending trends, declining DVD sales and unpredictable box office receipts will likely pressure media profits and payrolls in 2010 and beyond.

“I think you’re going to see a little bit of an upturn in hiring as advertising makes a bit of a rebound, but this is an industry in the midst of major change and many people are looking for a more steady line of work,” said Jack Kyser, an economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

CALIFORNIA UNEMPLOYMENT TO CLIMB

Film production and its attendant industries generate $38 billion for California’s economy and employ nearly 250,000 people. Analysts expect the state’s jobless rate to climb well into next year, even as broader U.S. unemployment is expected to ease from its peak of 10 percent in early 2010.

Job requirements for entertainment professionals are changing as well. New employees will need to not only demonstrate a knowledge of the media industry but also understand fast-changing technologies.

“The last several years have seen belt-tightening across the sector. Business models are still in flux,” said Chris Marangi, analyst with Gabelli & Co. “It’s a balancing act. I think it varies by segment and by company, but some areas in media will grow (by headcount) and some will slim down.” 

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U.K. house prices will rise in the next year, according to a majority of consumers in a survey last month by Rightmove Plc.

Fifty-four percent of respondents expect average house prices to be higher in 12 months, the U.K.’s biggest property Web site said in an e-mailed statement today in London. In the first quarter, more than 68 percent of consumers polled forecast lower prices in a year’s time.

House prices are rebounding from a rout that shaved about 20 percent off average values as demand for new property outstrips supply. Bank of England policy makers said this month that the outlook for the housing market’s recovery depends on the availability of mortgage finance.

“Those surveyed may feel that prices will increase, but that does not necessarily mean that they are willing or able to purchase themselves, especially given the tight lending criteria required to access the best rates,” Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said in the statement loans until payday.

The Bank of England said last week the outlook for the housing market “will depend, in part, on the supply of mortgage credit.” While U.K. mortgage approvals climbed to their highest level for 18 months in September, they’re still only half what they were when the credit crisis started in September 2007.

Prices rose for a third month in October after they had dropped as much as a fifth from 2007, Hometrack Ltd. said earlier this month.

Rightmove said more than 68 percent of respondents described now as a good time to buy while 5 percent said it was a good time to sell. The poll of 34,056 people was conducted from Oct. 5 to Oct. 19.

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Apple’s lips are sealed about its widely rumored tablet computer, but technology experts are giddy about the device, already exclaiming it will be the gadget to end all gadgets.

Executives at Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) never discuss products that are in the works, so there’s no confirmation that the thing even exists. But rumors are circulating that Steve Jobs and Co. have designed a magazine-sized, touch-screen, hand-held, all-in-one device that is half-iPhone, half-Macintosh computer.

It’s supposedly going to make its debut in the next few months, and you can have it for the low, low price of $600. Or $800. Maybe $1,000. No one’s really sure.

If the rumors are true, the tablet will be able to do basically everything a gadget could possibly do. It’s an e-reader, a gaming device, and a music player. You can watch TV and movies on it and surf the Internet (or so we’ve heard). And it will have thousands of third-party apps available for it … or maybe it will run Mac OS X. That’s all still unknown.

Coolest device … ever? Maybe. Some analysts are channeling their inner-Frodo, saying the Apple tablet will be the one gadget to rule them all.

"This will be the next big thing," said Laura DiDio, principal analyst at ITIC. "Apple is going to wow everybody with the tablet."

Any time Steve Jobs gets on stage, the expectations are incredibly high, but they are especially lofty for the tablet. Analysts and investors are saying that this device could revolutionize the handheld world in the same way the the iPhone changed the smartphone market.

"The tablet will change the game, because Apple will throw down the gauntlet at the competitors, and force them to follow along," DiDio said.

According to DiDio, the tablet will have a 10-inch to 12-inch screen and a high-end graphics card that will enable stunning resolution — even more so than the iPhone and iPod Touch. She said the device will come in several different models that offer varieties of Internet connections, such as Wi-Fi or 3G, perhaps through a contract with AT&T (T, Fortune 500).

Another cool feature will be the Web cam, which business travelers will be able to use for video conferencing on the go, DiDio said.

Some analysts say all of those features will kill other single-function handheld devices, making the Apple tablet the go-to handheld device for computing, Internet browsing, reading, gaming and entertainment low cost payday loans.

"Apple will come out with the tablet and blow everyone away," said Dan Ackerman, senior editor at CNET. "Instead of taking along a Kindle and an iPod, that [tablet] could become the device you carry with you."

The cheaply priced netbook market may also take a hit when the tablet comes out. Apple typically prices their products higher than competitors, because they install top-of-the-line hardware, but DiDio said Apple learned from its mistake of pricing the original iPhone at $599, pricing out many potential customers.

"The Tablet will be awesome, and my guess is that it will be an instant hit for people who loved Kindles and people who want netbooks," said David Wertheimer, executive director of the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center.

Wertheimer said he finds it hard to comprehend how the tablet will replace all other on-the-go tech products. "But then again, what I can’t imagine, Steve Jobs often can," he added.

…Or the fizzle may fail. Not everyone thinks the Apple tablet will be the gadget to end all gadgets.

"What we’ve found in the past with these multi-function devices is that they’re better for ad-hoc purposes, like quick and dirty tasks," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with Yankee Group. "They’re not for any prolonged, high-performance use."

For instance, smartphones have cameras for quick snapshots, but when you go on vacation, you’re probably going to want your digital camera to come along with you for high-quality photos.

Kerravala said the same logic applies to the tablet’s other functions, including its e-reading capability: "If you want to sit and read a book, the ergonomics of a device that’s specifically designed for reading are going to be better."

Similarly, only 3% of people whose cell phones can play music say they use their phone as their primary music player, according to a Yankee Group study. Even if it means carrying around two devices, an MP3 player is bound to have a better user experience than a multi-function cell phone.

That doesn’t mean the Apple tablet — if it exists — won’t be cool. But you may want to hang onto your iPod, Kindle, Nintendo DS, portable DVD player and laptop for a while. 

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Hitachi Ltd, Japan’s biggest electronics firm by revenues, plans to raise up to 400 billion yen ($4.5 billion) by issuing new shares and convertible bonds to shore up its battered capital base, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The sources, who asked not to be identified ahead of an official announcement anticipated as early as Monday, said Hitachi plans to sell about 300 billion yen worth of shares and another 100 billion yen in convertible bonds.

The public share offering would be its first in 27 years.

No one could be immediately reached at Hitachi for comment.

Faced with its fourth straight year of losses, Hitachi’s shareholders’ equity ratio has slipped to just below 11 percent, roughly half that of rival NEC Corp, which earlier this month announced it would raise up to $1.5 billion.

The ratio is calculated by dividing shareholders’ equity by total assets and is a measure of financial strength.

Issuing 300 billion yen worth of stock at Friday’s closing price of 294 yen would boost Hitachi’s shares outstanding by about 30 percent.

Hitachi, a sprawling conglomerate with more than 900 group firms, is trying to restructure unprofitable businesses while shifting resources to its power operations, which include nuclear power plants, railway systems, elevators and batteries for hybrid cars.

Some of the funds raised would help pay for this group restructuring, the sources said.

Hitachi launched a $3 billion bid earlier this year to make five listed units, including magnetic tape maker Hitachi Maxell

and plant engineering firm Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd, wholly-owned.

Hitachi also must shoulder an investment of about 80 billion yen to pave the way for a merger of Renesas Technology — its chip venture with Mitsubishi Electric — and chipmaker NEC Electronics next year.

Massive losses have also taken their toll. Hitachi lost 787 billion yen in the past business year ended in March, a record for a Japanese manufacturer, and is forecasting a loss of 230 billion yen in the current year to March 2010.

The share and convertible bond offering will mark the first major step by Takashi Kawamura, a veteran of the power business who took over as president in April, to shore up the finances.

Hitachi will be joining a rush of Japanese companies raising money from the stock market following a recovery in the benchmark Nikkei average, which has rallied some 40 percent since hitting a low for the year in March. 

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