NPR Audio - Business

For more than 30 years, a California woman has been making custom-tailored suits for the country's best-dressed Santas. A top-of-the-line, handmade suit can cost as much as $2,500. Full Story »

The Nielsen Co. is selling some of its most prominent trade journals — including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard — and shutting down E&P, which has chronicled the industry for more than 100 years. Full Story »

Market watchers look to their favorite indicators to signal when the economy is turning around — things like GDP, productivity or the consumer price index. But for a Massachusetts liquor store, it's when customers stop buying inexpensive wines. Full Story »

As technology has evolved and become more affordable, bands no longer need to book hours of expensive studio time in a facility with million-dollar consoles. They can approximate a decent sound in the basement. So where does that leave recording engineers and all of that expensive equipment? Full Story »

You would think that specialty businesses would prefer to have blocks or neighborhoods to themselves, but in many places the same kinds of businesses are clustered together. In New York, for example, diamond dealers, florists and even chess shops are clumped together on the same block. It all makes sense economically. Full Story »

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s top executives will not receive cash bonuses this year, as the Wall Street giant bows to sharp criticism over its pay practices. The 30 high-ranking executives will instead receive stock that cannot be sold for at least five years, the New York-based bank said. Full Story »

Just over 31,000 homeowners have received permanent loan modifications under the Obama administration's mortgage relief plan, a big setback for the government's embattled effort to stem the foreclosure crisis. Only 4 percent of the nearly 760,000 borrowers who have signed up have received modifications. Full Story »

The number of homeowners on the brink of foreclosure fell in November, the fourth straight monthly decline, as mortgage companies evaluated whether borrowers were eligible for help. Nearly 307,000 households received a foreclosure-related notice in November, down 8 percent from a month earlier but still up 18 percent from a year earlier. Full Story »

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $32.9 billion in October as exports surged to the highest level in nearly a year. Growing exports, boosted by a weaker dollar, are expected to boost demand for American manufactured goods in coming months and provide important strength to the overall economic recovery. Full Story »

The tally of newly laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose by 17,000, after falling for five straight weeks. A Labor Department analyst says claims were partly inflated by a surge following the Thanksgiving holiday week, when many state unemployment offices were closed. Full Story »