Marketers selling food to children and teens spent 20% less in 2009 than they did in 2006 and are making "modest nutritional improvements" to the products they promote, according to a new government report.

Advertisers shelled out nearly $1.8 billion to target consumers ages 2 to 17, down from the $2.1 billion they allocated three years earlier, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

But most of the decline came from a switch to online commercials from expensive television spots. Spending on youth food marketing for new media -- which includes Internet, mobile and viral spots -- soared 50% over the period, according to the report.

But at least companies are making more of an effort to hawk more healthful foods to young consumers, according to the report. The FTC compiled its information partly through subpoenas of 48 major food and beverage marketers.

Cereals aimed at children had less sugar and slightly more whole grain in 2009; marketing of uber-sweet cereals with 13 grams or...

California's unemployment rate hit single-digits in November for the first time in almost four years, thanks in part to a holiday hiring surge by retailers.

The jobless rate fell to 9.8% from 10.1% in October, according to data in an overall jobs report released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.

The drop in the unemployment rate, determined in a survey of households, came even as a separate payroll survey found that employers in the state shed 3,800 jobs.

“The state showed a very significant and encouraging drop in the unemployment rate,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at the Fermanian Business and Economic Institute at Point Loma Nazarene University. “A fall below 10% is welcome news.”

For months, economic forecasts have said the unemployment rate wouldn’t fall to single digits until at least next year.

Both surveys in the report provide a mixed view, though, of what is still a fragile economic recovery in the state.

For instance,...

With its three-day stock plunge accelerating Friday, Herbalife Ltd. said it will defend itself against a hedge fund manager’s accusations that the business is a “pyramid scheme” – but the company said its response won't come until next month.

The Los Angeles maker of nutritional products said Friday that it will wait until the week of Jan. 7 to host an event for analysts at which it will respond to the “distorted, outdated and inaccurate information” alleged by moneyman Bill Ackman.

Ackman, who founded Pershing Square Capital Management, says Herbalife rewards its sales representatives more for recruiting distributors than for selling products. The compensation structure, he says, leaves millions of small-scale sellers making next to nothing while an elite few rake in huge paydays.

Ackman called Herbalife “the best-managed pyramid scheme in the history of the world” – allegations he spelled out in a multimedia presentation delivered...

Getting holiday packages swiped from outside your door is an unfortunate risk of online shopping. Unless you’re Al Alverson, a Texas homeowner with a security camera.

When he returned home one recent day to discover that the FedEx package he was expecting was missing, he turned to his footage and discovered the culprit.

And it wasn’t the milkman.

“I said, 'Oh my God, it’s the UPS guy,'” Alverson told KHOU 11 News.

In a video that’s now posted on YouTube and circulating around Reddit, the Grinch in a brown uniform drops off a parcel at Alverson’s door and then soon returns to nab the FedEx package.

The box contained an iPad mini for Alverson’s daughter.

At first, Alverston told the news station, UPS was less than helpful when he called to complain. But once he posted the damning footage, the shipping company promised to send him a replacement tablet, he said.

The delivery man was a temporary holiday worker for UPS, not a driver,...

WASHINGTON -- Consumer confidence plunged this month amid fears that politicians would be unable to resolve the fiscal cliff, triggering another recession next year, according to survey data released Friday.

The closely watched consumer sentiment index from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan tumbled in December to 72.9, the lowest level in five months, from 82.7 in November.

“Confidence is lost much more easily than it can be regained, and the pessimism created by not reaching a resolution before year-end will be difficult to reverse even if a settlement is reached soon after the start of 2013," said Richard Curtin, the survey's chief economist.

"Blaming one side or the other for failure will only increase pessimism as it reflects a dysfunctional system for setting economic policy," he said.

Consumers showed they were particularly fearful of the automatic tax increases...

Looking for evidence of China’s economic prowess, Europe’s malaise and consumer ennui in the U.S.? Use the international restaurant industry as a barometer, according to a report this week.

China’s economy, coming off a period of blistering growth, is expanding at its slowest rate in years. But the Asian superpower is still projected to account for 40% of this year’s global growth, according to the World Bank.

That increase is evident in China's restaurants, according to research firm NPD Group. Traffic to food service operators in the country saw double-digit percentage gains in the third quarter compared with the year-earlier period. Spending at restaurants -- at $3.38 for an average check -- is up 26.1%.

Major American companies such as KFC owner Yum Brands and McDonald’s have poured into China in recent years, though the former has recently struggled with a sales slip and food safety concerns in the country. Nearly half of Yum’s overall revenues...

With one of the strongest holiday shopping seasons in years, a surge in hiring by retailers helped lower California's unemployment rate in November to its lowest level in almost four years.

The state's jobless rate fell to 9.8% from 10.1% in October, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The drop in the unemployment rate came even as the state's labor force – the number of people who are able to work and either have a job or are looking for one – grew by 34,100 people in November.

Quiz: How much do you know about California's economy?

A growing labor force is typically a sign that job seekers feel encouraged to resume looking for work again.

But a survey of employers showed that California payrolls shrank by a net 3,800 jobs last month, with losses recorded in education and health services. That sector lost 11,000 jobs. The next largest decline was in manufacturing, which lost 8,900 positions.

A sign that consumers are spending again, the...

WASHINGTON -- Consumer spending rose 0.4% in November after a drop the previous month attributed to  Superstorm Sandy, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Personal income also increased last month, jumping 0.6% from October, giving consumers more money in their wallets to spend.

The new figures showed Americans shrugged off concerns last month about the large tax increases and government spending cuts looming Jan. 1, known as the fiscal cliff.

Personal consumption expenditures increased $41.3 billion in November after falling by $20.2 billion, or 0.1%, in October, the Commerce Department said.

Officials originally estimated that spending was down 0.2% in October after Sandy took a big bite out of paychecks.

The increased spending last month was in line with analyst expectations.

Income growth also rebounded after being basically flat in October. Personal income rose $85.8 billion in November.

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More people moving to U.S.

Stocks dive 1% after Boehner's plan fails in House

U.S....

The House's failure to vote on Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" to avert the so-called fiscal cliff led to a sharp early sell-off on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 117 points, or 0.9%, to 13,195 shortly after the opening bell Friday.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 14 points, or 1%, to 1,429. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was down 45 points, or 1.5%, to 3,005.

The U.S. House of Representatives' failure to bring Speaker Boehner's plan to a vote Thursday fueled pessimism that hyper-partisan Washington could defuse a looming fiscal crisis that economists predict could lead to a recession.

Boehner abruptly canceled a vote late Thursday on his "Plan B" that would prevent taxes going up at year's end for all but those earning more than $1 million a year. The speaker was scheduled to hold a press conference Friday morning.

Only six business days, including Friday but excluding Christmas, remain before the  new year, when automatic spending cuts and tax...

From now on, when American Airlines executives visit London, they are going to have to check into a hotel, like most of us.

That's because the airline, whose parent company filed for bankruptcy last year, notified the bankruptcy judge that it is selling a 5,242-square-foot house it owns in the Kensington district of London.

After marketing the town house for four months, American Airlines has agreed to sell the property for $23 million to CG Property Nominees Limited, according to court records.

The airline filed a notice Wednesday about the pending sale to get the approval of the bankruptcy judge. A hearing on the sale is scheduled for Jan. 9 in New York.

News of the sale was posted on the website of the Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants, which has criticized the airline for owning the property in the first place.

"We cannot help but wonder why the company waited so long to sell the 5,200 sq. ft. luxury home," the group said on its website.

The association suggested the airline...

Responding to critics, the Department of Homeland Security is launching another safety study of full-body scanners used to screen passengers at the nation's airports.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Transportation Security Administration, plans to award a contract to the National Academy of Sciences to perform the review.

But the nonprofit group of scientists will only be asked to review previous studies on the safety of a particular type of scanner used by the TSA.

The study comes in response to pressure from TSA critics, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who introduced a bill this year to test the safety of the scanners.

[Updated, 3:35 p.m. Dec. 20: In a statement, Collins said she welcomes the new review.

"While TSA has told the public that the amount of radiation emitted from these machines is small, passengers and some scientific experts have raised questions about the impact of repeated exposure to this radiation," she said.] 

In an interview, TSA...