Sales for the holiday season so far have been better than they were last year although they fall short of what the experts had hoped for. With merchants totaling up their sales receipts as this first leg of the holiday shopping season comes to a close on Sunday, there is still lots of conjecture about what the next four weeks will bring.

Of course there were a few bright spots and retailers in the West had favorable results.  As well Internet retailers were reporting that their sales were up 35% over a comparable term last year. Although the brick-and-mortar retailers reported an increase of half a percent over last year, their sales are still in the billions of dollars and the season for holiday shopping is not over.

One expert said that the numbers on Friday were not usually considered a good indication for the whole season although most experts are holding to their original estimates of a 1.6% increase from last year. According to one expert the hot items so far include electronics, clothing, shoes and boots.

General Motors has announced that the deal that they were working on to sell Saab to a Swedish group has fallen through. GM CEO Fritz Henderson gave a somber statement after it was announced that  plans to sell the company to Swedish firm Koenigsegg Group AB had collapsed.

“We’re obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase,” Henderson said in a statement. “Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week.”

Another GM executive noted that the Board of Directors of the auto giant was to meet next week and what to do with Saab now that the deal has evaporated would be on the agenda.   The news comes as a surprise to those in the industry since the Swedish company had entered talks with its government to finance the monies needed to buy Saab. There were even reports that the Swedes had contacted a Chinese frim to explore the possibility of shipping to that country.

It seems that at least one of America’s top executives who earlier balked at any kind of bonus restrictions has agreed to one in the end. AIG has announced that Robert Benmosche has agreed to a package that still totals in the millions.

Benmosche had previously voiced his displeasure with government restraints that were placed on the industry giant after the company was bailed out last year.    Reports even went so far as to say that he threatened to quit his job in board meetings earlier this year before releasing a statement recently saying that he was totally committed to the job.

When the huge company ran into trouble last year, they received billions of dollars worth of bail out money from the federal government and in exchange the government took over 80% ownership of the firm. As part of the new deal,

Benmosche will receive stock in the company as part of an employment inducement program.These shares that are sold to him will vest immediately, but the CEO will not be able to sell them for five full years from after the date that he was hired.

According to  new published reports the banks are considering levying a fee on your debit card in the near future. The reason for the shift from the big financial institutions could be simple.  For the first time, Americans have spent more on their debit cards than on the credit cards which were partially responsible for the recession.

There are a few trends that the experts see here including Americans unwillingness to get themselves in the kind of debt they used to be comfortable with. As well, the banks are becoming more and more stringent with the terms of the number of credit cards they issue. All this translates into people using debit cards more and more.  In fact, they are expected to spend nearly two thirds more than they did only four years ago.

Of course that means the banks are looking to get their fair share of this shift in usage. According to one expert, both large and small banks are looking for ways to levy a fee on debit cards to help make up for lost revenue.

As if they hadn’t had enough problems to deal with already, the recent economic problems in Dubai could have repercussions for American banks a world away.   The state run investment company there,Dubai World, owes billions of dollars and they have interests all around the world.

The problem lies with the fact that the international banking system has interconnected itself over years and that several American banks hold some of the debt from Dubai World. In particular Citigroup and J.P. Morgan are two of the banks in New York area that have reason to be concerned.

And although those are the only two big American banks that have direct exposure, experts in the banking industry are worried there could be a ripple effect that spreads through the economy and from the larger banks to the smaller ones.

One of the problem seems to be the level of uncertainty.  None of the experts seem to know which level of this debt is held by American banks so they cannot accurately predict what the ripple effect will be.

Unlike a lot of its other counterparts around the world, the European Union Chamber of Commerce isn’t fond of the way the Chinese have seen fit to pull themselves up out of the worldwide economic slump. In fact the group has come out and stated that  Chinese excess industrial capacities in fact are working against  global recovery.

The group says that because the Chinese have spent an excessive amount of money on a stimulus package and have more open credit than some of their competitors, they have been able to foster an environment where trade tensions between countries are rising because of their inflated overcapacity.

The group recommended that the Chinese currency be allowed to deflate on international markets and that subsidies for Chinese manufacturers abroad be dropped. There are some indications that the Chinese are listening.  In September one of their administrative councils decided to start limiting the capacity in various industries including shipbuilding.

The group does go on to say that China’s own economy is the victim of this overcapacity is well.  They mention the fact that research and development is sadly underfunded there.

Italian businessman are more confident than they’ve been in the last year according to a study done there. Those polled said that they feel more confident and are sure that their export industry will help them through the worst economic slump the country has seen in more than 60 years.

The manufacturing index the country uses to gauge how well that segment of their economy is doing fared better last month than expected.  However, it only kept pace with the average on the world scale.  Still that doesn’t damper  the spirits of Italian businessman, who are confident that in the short term things are on the upswing.

Like a lot of other countries across the world, Italy saw fit to use stimulus packages to reignite their economic platforms. In particular one of the country’s biggest exporters, Fiat motorcars, was a big recipient of these monies.

Consumer confidence that was measured at the same time also showed an optimism even though Italy is suffering through the same labor troubles and unemployment rates has other countries worldwide.

Like a lot of other countries around the world at the moment, Japan is finding that the rise of their currency against the American dollar is in fact a mixed blessing.   The advancing Yen that is  at a 14 year high against the American dollar is very concerning to Japan’s export led recovery.

Concerned  comments suggest that Japan is on the verge of stepping into financial markets for the first time in several years.  This is due to the fact that they, like a lot of other countries worldwide, have suffered through their worst postwar recession and the advancing currency against American dollars is in fact causing the kind of deflationary pressure that will drive the import costs lower for that country.

The Japanese finance minister also said that intervention in the markets is a distinct possibility because the manufacturing sector of the Japanese economy is in fact considering shifting its base to offshore production because the cost is too high home in Japan.

The move to intervene in the markets would not be taken lightly and is something that Japan hasn’t done since 2004 when they sold a record number of Yen.

With the biggest holiday season upon Americans soon,  small business merchants are finding it hard due to slow sales and tight credit to keep the inventory on hand that they need so their companies can stay afloat. However, some business entrepreneurs in the New York area have found a unique way to help these merchants out.

American merchants quite often look to the credit market to get the inventory that they need to beef up stock for the busiest of holiday seasons.  Of course with the recent recession and the tight credit market that traditional way of doing business has faltered and with that turn, many small businesses have gone under particularly in the Brooklyn area of New York City.

There are some people however that are taking on the role of the nontraditional Santa Claus.  And in one of the hardest hit sections of New York City in Brooklyn, there is one such lady.

Lesia Bates Moss noticed that one section of Atlantic Avenue was especially troubled so she decided to get the local merchants together and have a meeting to see what her company Seedco Financial Services could do about the problem. Because the merchants all said this problem was the tight credit market that would not allow them to get enough inventory for the holiday season, Moss came up with a plan whereby these small store owners could submit a proposal to win funding based on what their plans were to drive traffic to their stores.

If a senior UK policy makers recommendations are implemented, the banks in the UK will have the toughest restrictions surrounding bonuses for bankers in the world. Senior Adviser David Walker said that most UK banks should have the power to delay any kind of bonus payment to top executives by several years and also have the opportunity to take back the awards should the need arise.

The British government is impressed by what they see and one government official even went so far as to say that they would implement the changes as soon as possible.

The move comes as a result of the public’s anger over the government of Britain using trillions of pounds to keep the financial system afloat after one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression.

“If we implement what I propose, we have a tougher regime than is in place in any jurisdiction in the world,” Walker was quoted as saying.”Unless remuneration policies are enforced, then companies “just won’t do it.”

Banks in the United Kingdom and expressed their concern that publishing what top earners make will not do any good unless other countries follow suit.