The stock market has recovered from early losses. Investors continue to monitor closely the discussions in Washington aimed at averting the "fiscal cliff."
- The Federal Reserve's newest Beige Book survey finds a pickup in consumer spending and home sales helped boost economic growth in October and early this month in most parts of the United States. Activity in the Northeast was slowed by Superstorm Sandy.
- An administration official says two of President Barack Obama's top negotiators on the "fiscal cliff" will meet separately on Thursday with leading lawmakers. The sessions are seen as an important step in determining how the government will avoid a year-end package of tax increases and spending cuts that could throw the economy into recession.
- The Labor Department says unemployment rates declined last month in more than half of the 372 largest U.S. cities, further evidence of steady improvement in the job market. Jobless rates fell in 201 metro areas, while rising in 116 and were unchanged in 55. And the number of cities with unemployment below 7 percent rose to 180 last month, up from 107 a year ago.
- Motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar has died in Texas. He was 86. Ziglar's executive assistant says he died at a hospital in a Dallas suburb.
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