Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word commerce. 8 news.

AUSTRALIA'S largest retailer, Woolworths, says it will oppose the appeal by the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) against the NZ High Court's decision to allow the grocer to bid for The Warehouse Group.

CONSUMER spending on China's hotel and catering industry hit record highs last month, as the hotel industry develops, and food prices rise. Domestic hotels and restaurants generated record sales of 110 billion yuan (US$14.9 billion) for November, an increase of 21.6 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said on its Website yesterday. The growth is 3.9 percent higher than the same period last year, and 0.2 percent higher than in October. Spending on hotels and restaurants for the first 11 months rose by 18.9 percent to 1.11 trillion yuan, accounting for 13.9 percent of total retail sales during the period. Analysts say part of this can be attributed to the rise in food prices since the beginning of this year. In November, China's consumer prices, a main gauge of inflation, jumped 6.9 percent from a year earlier, close to 11-year record of seven percent set in December 1996. Sales revenue was recorded at 134.7 billion yuan. About 862 foreign-funded hotels

GENEVA (AP) -- The World Trade Organization has opened an investigation into whether the United States is violating international commerce rules that limit subsidies to American farmers, officials said Monday, three days after the U.S. Senate approved a new $286 billion farm bill....

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. current account deficit narrowed in the third quarter to $178.5 billion, or 5.1% of gross domestic product, the Commerce Department said Monday.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. current account deficit narrowed in the third quarter to $178.5 billion, or 5.1% of gross domestic product, the Commerce Department said Monday. It's the smallest current account deficit as a share of the economy since the first quarter of 2004. The decline in the deficit was accounted for by a decrease in the deficit in trade of goods and an increase in the surplus on income. Net financial inflows decreased to $93.4 billion in the third quarter from $152.8 billion in the second as foreigners slowed their purchases of U.S. financial assets.

Pockets of success give hope to Bronzeville residents trying to restore commerce to once-bustling district It was the heart of Chicago's "Black Metropolis," a commercial swath of black-owned businesses that thrived on the South Side between World War I and World War II. To some, Cottage Grove Avenue's mix of black insurance brokers, butchers and shop owners represented a viable separatist model for black urban development.

The Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce is helping to organize a February conference of Midwestern chambers to build consensus on key regional economic and policy issues, including topics to address with the 2008 presidential candidates.

Membership in small-town and suburban chambers of commerce in the Birmingham metro area is on the rise, according to Birmingham Business Journal research.