Marketplace Midday Update, Friday, December 18, 2009

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MARKET UPDATE at 12:35 p.m. EST DOW -28.49; NASDAQ +14.31; S&P 500 -0.39 Marketplace Minute With Bill Radke Watch Marketplace Morning Report host Bill Radke cram all the week's business news into a 60-second poem. LATEST NEWS FROM MARKETPLACE Listen to today's Morning Report | Marketplace Get your hands off my carrots! The latest craze in China is online farming games. This is no joke. These games are so popular and addictive that the Chinese government had to issue a decree to stop “Stealing Vegetables.” Morning Reading I've been reading and viewing various items, including articles on jobs and the dollar's woes. LATER TODAY ON MARKETPLACE The economy is changing the way businesses and employees celebrate the season. Adrienne Hill reports the holiday has people thinking creatively about alternative parties and bonuses as they scale back. Christmas trees are essentially recession proof, but it's still been a rough year for the industry. Some Oregon farmers are trying to make the best of it. Amelia Templeton reports. Earnings at top technology companies like Oracle and RIM, the makers of the Blackberry, have been much better than expected. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports on what's going on in the tech world. Tune in to your local broadcast or listen online STORIES FROM MARKETPLACE MORNING REPORT Avatar's success is in the marketing Avatar opens today with what some estimate to be a budget of half a billion dollars -- with $150 million going to marketing alone. With that kind of push, some experts guarantee a mega-opening. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports. Google guilty in French e-book case A Parisian court has found Google guilty of copyright infringement in a case involving the search giant's effort to put books online. Steve Chiotakis gets the latest from Marketplace's Jeremy Hobson. Small biz can't skrimp on customer gifts For many small businesses, giving thank-you gifts to customers around the holidays is a marketing must. But how can you gracefully continue this tradition while scaling back on employee bonuses? Mitchell Hartman reports. MARKETPLACE MONEY PERSONAL FINANCE The perils of buying a foreclosed home How to get a good foreclosure deal What converting to a Roth IRA means Japan's solar energy shines a light The mag I love to hate: SkyMall Our listeners respond to Money How to be smart about philanthropy Getting a laugh out of Madoff More from Marketplace Money Subscribe to the Marketplace Money newsletter SPONSOR Coverage from Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Money plus Web extras. SPECIAL REPORTS AND FEATURES We're on Twitter Get an early heads-up of what's coming up on the show and other tidbits from the business day. Follow us   Working Intimate profiles of real people with real families, real struggles, real dreams and real jobs. Meet them   Conversations from the Corner Office Marketplace goes one-on-one with CEOs, company founders, head honchos. Sit in The Next American Dream Marketplace looks at four pillars of the American Dream and how they're changing. Follow the Dream.

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