Thursday Evening Business Brief

Wall Street finished the session with small gains. The Dow added nearly 40 points to close at 13,074. The S&P 500 rose five points to 1,414, while the Nasdaq composite 16 points to 2,989.

• Campaigning for his solution to the "fiscal cliff", President Barack Obama visited a northern Virginia family's basement apartment to press his hard line on tax rate increases for the wealthy. Obama and lawmakers have until the end of the year to avert across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases.
• The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid fell sharply last week as a temporary spike caused by Superstorm Sandy has faded. In tomorrow morning's report, economists expect employers added 110,000 jobs in November, with the unemployment rate remaining at 7.9 percent.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers to the United States next year. Analysts say the announcement, while good PR, is also a sign that more manufacturing jobs will be returning to the U.S. with wages rising in China.
•  H&R Block's fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed, helped by cost-cutting efforts. Revenue was on the rise, helped by the strength of the business during tax season in Australia.