<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Discover Financial Services <DFS.N>, the sixth-largest U.S. credit card issuer, posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings as bad loans grew and the value of transactions with its cards declined, sending its shares down more than 8 percent ...

<div id="subtitle">Diners Club International changes look and ads to reflect new ownership under Discover</div><div><p>Diners Club International said Monday it's changing its logo, card, Web site and advertisements to reflect its new ownership under Discover Financial ...

<div><p>Cash-strapped US consumers plan to spend about 15 percent less on Christmas gifts in 2009 than they did last year, a credit industry research group reported Wednesday.</p><p>On average, shoppers are expected to spend 723 dollars on holiday ...

<div><h1>GLIMMERS OF HOPE FOR U.S. CORPORATE PROFITS </h1><p>Companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index have come a long way since reporting a collective loss at the end of 2008. Third-quarter numbers so far indicate ...