Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word good. 28 news.

Pity parents trying to guarantee toys they buy are lead-free this holiday season. But shoppers can increase their confidence by looking for safety-standards labels that are akin to a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

MERRILL Lynch & Co, the securities firm that reported a record US$2.24-billion third-quarter loss, told fixed-income managers to cut 2007 bonuses by an average of 40 percent, according to two people briefed on the matter. Payments may fall by as much as 80 percent for traders who specialize in the mortgage bonds and collateralized debt obligations that posted the steepest losses, said the people, who declined to be named because the decisions aren't public. Bonuses may drop 20 percent for interest-rate traders and 60 percent in the New York-based firm's corporate bond unit, the sources said, according to Bloomberg News. Chief Executive Officer John Thain, who took over from Stan O'Neal on December 1, said he will reward good performers while cutting payouts for people who caused losses. He has to placate investors by trimming wages while making sure the most valuable employees don't leave, said Russ Gerson, head of New York-based recruiting firm Gerson Group. On Wall Street,

If you want to build a better rapport with your clients, this is a good place to start.

American sparkling wines are surprisingly good. Even more surprising, the best stuff is priced between $15 and $30

Retailers are hanging their hopes of a good shopping season on the finicky procrastinators who have...

A U.S. dealer representative doubts that two India-based suitors would be good for the brands.

Good investors know that it's smart to stay happily married to winning trades.

By Monty Guild. " Unfortunately, our doctor is not Doctor Feel Good...at least not in the short run. The prognosis is not good for the stock markets in the U.S. and Europe. Sure, they can rally, but don't count on any long bull runs. "

Anyone with stomach problems will want to read this story.

A second network is returning money to advertisers in the face of hefty ratings declines this season. The CW was forced to put the process in motion as ratings sputtered deep into the fall, preventing the network from making good on unfulfilled guarantees going back to last season.

Good help is hard to find, especially when it comes to managing the investments of the wealthy. As the rich get richer, they are pursuing more hedge fund investments, private-equity deals and overseas real estate opportunities, increasing the complexity and diversity of their portfolios. But the ...

Banking institutions that cater to high net worth families are discovering that helping clients give money away helps the banks, too. The Chicago offices of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J. P. Morgan Private Bank and Harris Private Bank, among others, have hired philanthropy experts to offer guidance ...

For David A. Carpenter, life is good. The 45-year-old Chicago native is a top partner at Chicago's Mayer Brown LLP, where top partners earn salaries well into seven figures. He lives in the Gold Coast and heads a team of up to 40 lawyers who handle acquisitions and other complex legal chores for ...

[Telecom] Mark Fewell, senior director of business development at Boosted, says the space is intended to provide a venue "for the artists whom we work with to display their work in a good, cool location. Second, it is a venue to display new products we are coming out with under the Boosted label. Primarily, it's about getting people to see what we are doing. It's our way of extending, in a credible and authentic way, into areas outside wireless."

The bad news? Washington didn't get many new jobs from granting Boeing a huge tax break. The good news? It may not be quite so big a tax...

If you're looking for a phone that is good for traditional calling and text messaging at the same time, you might consider the Pantech Duo.

The most important thing to consider when choosing a cell phone provider is whether there is good coverage in the areas you use your phone the most.

You may never hear a word from a conversation analyst, but there's a very good chance one is paying close attention to what you're saying...

JVC KD HDR1 Cnet rating: 8.2 out of 10 (excellent) The good: The built-in HD radio tuner and its wealth of digital audio playback options set it apart from the competition in its price range. The bad: The limited number of characters on its display means that...

About half of the online adult population has looked up themselves or someone else online, according to a survey released Sunday. A good 36 percent said they have searched the Web for someone with whom they've lost touch, and 9 percent have dug up information...