Congress just passed an expanded version of the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit that was set to expire on November 30. “The new version of the tax credit has the potential to stimulate the housing market even more than the old version due to the fact that more people will qualify under the new rules,” said Gibran Nicholas, Chairman of the CMPS Institute, an organization that certifies mortgage bankers and brokers.

Jobless rates, reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics are worse than expected. Unemployment jumped to 10.2 percent, which is the worse since 1983. U.S. payrolls fell more than expect as well. Tennagers lost the highest amount of jobs in terms of percent.

The extension of the home buyer tax credit is official now. The $8,000 home buyer’s tax credit will be extended and the new $6,500 homebuyer’s incentive tax credit will begin. The bill is expected to be signed by President Obama on Friday, November 6, 2009. The same bill also provides a tax break for businesses that lost money, and extends unemployment benefits for another 20 weeks.

Borders announced today that 200 Waldenbooks stores will be closed and 1,500 jobs will be cut in January to make the chain smaller and more profitable. The closings would leave about 130 Waldenbooks stores still in business.

The House of Representatives today joined the Senate in approving legislation that would expand and extend into next spring an $8000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. Existing home buyers will get $6500 home buyer tax credit.

Last month, federal authorities arrested six people in an insider trading scandal, including Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group. On Thursday, U.S. prosecutors charged 14 additional people in the alleged $20 million scheme, including Craig Drimal, who worked at the offices of the Galleon Group hedge fund firm but was not an employee.

The U.S. Department of Labor this morning reports that the unemployment insurance claims have dropped to 512,000 last week. These numbers reflecting the number of people filing for jobless benefits are the lowest since January of 2009.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously tonight to extend unemployment benefits for Americans who have exhausted their unemployment benefits would do so by year’s end. Senators voted 98-0 for the extension, which now heads to the House of Representatives. Once approved, which could be as early as Thursday, it will be sent to President Obama to sign.

There is no doubt which CPU brand is the most popular in the world. It starts and ends with Intel. The question is, has Intel used its market share power (and money) to make things still worse for rivals such as AMD? New York State AG Andrew Cuomo thinks so.

Microsoft Corp announced another 800 job cuts on Wednesday, on top of 5,000 jobs already eliminated under a plan to reduce costs that was announced back in January. the job cuts are spread across Microsoft's global operations, but about 200 are in and around its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

As expected, the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged. While it said the economy had "continued to pick up" since its last policy-setting meeting in September, the Fed maintained the rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent.

As if a SEPTA strike isn't bad enough, Philadelphia commuters have more bad news. This morning, there's news of a regional rail train car fire.