NEW YORK (AP) - Stores are heading into the period with slashed inventories, determined not to have the fire sales that characterized last Christmas. But shoppers are still facing tight credit and a weak job market and might wait for fat discounts or not buy at all. That game of chicken will determine the holiday winners and losers.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 2.1 percent in October, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs tally, compared with a 4.2 percent drop in October 2008. The October results beat estimates for a 1 percent gain and followed a surprising 0.6 percent increase in September.

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Productivity gains may be bad news for job seekers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Companies across the economy are finding ways to do more with fewer workers, dimming hopes that hiring will take off anytime soon.

Employers became leaner and more efficient in the third quarter. Wages, meantime, remain flat or falling. The result is that productivity - output per hour of work - jumped at the fastest pace in six years.

The good news for companies, though, may be bad news for the jobless. As long as companies can get their workers to produce more, they have little reason to hire - at least until consumer spending picks up. And the squeeze on incomes could depress consumer spending, putting the economic recovery at risk.

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Stocks surge on jobs data, Cisco forecast

NEW YORK (AP) - A drop in unemployment claims and an upbeat forecast from Cisco Systems Inc. gave investors a jolt of confidence a day before a key government report on jobs.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 200 points Thursday to its first close above 10,000 in two weeks, while the Nasdaq composite index led major indexes with a gain of 2.4 percent after Cisco, the maker of computer-networking gear, predicted its revenue would grow.

Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.3 billion shares compared with 1.4 billion Wednesday.

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Fannie Mae seeks $15 bln in US aid after 3Q loss

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fannie Mae is asking for an additional $15 billion in government aid after posting another big loss in the third quarter as the taxpayer bill from the housing market bust keeps rising.

The government-controlled company continued to see a dramatic surge of borrowers fall behind as the unemployment rate climbs. At the end of last month, about 4.7 percent of Fannie Mae's borrowers had missed at least three payments.