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Target strategically built a wave of buzz around Tuesday's launch of the Missoni for Target line, but the retailer was unprepared for what it created: Mob scenes in stores and a surge that crashed its website for more than a day. So was the near instant sellout a success, or a PR mess?

Verizon Wireless stores were braced for a crushing wave of customers seeking the newly available Verizon iPhone Thursday. But thanks to a strong pre-order campaign, the crowds were lighter than expected, and happy shoppers got their phones quickly.

Hoping to add some safety against inflation to their portfolios, many folks have been investing in Treasury inflation-protected securities -- TIPS. So now that inflation is on the horizon, they should be sitting pretty, right? Unfortunately not. Here's why.

Retailers should be swooning this year: Spending for the lover's holiday is forecast to top $18.6 billion, a 5.8% jump in spending over 2010. That amounts to about $125 per person who buys a gift for that special someone.

Last week, power-plant operator Dynegy agreed to be acquired by top shareholder Icahn Enterprises for about $665 million. But Dynegy's second-largest shareholder, hedge fund Seneca Capital, rejected the bid, calling it "the wrong price at the wrong time for the wrong reasons."

Defense contractor Raytheon said Monday it has agreed to buy Applied Signal Technology, which specializes in collecting and processing communication signals to support tactical and strategic intelligence missions, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $490 million.

Groupon, the online social coupon site launched in 2008, is looking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in expansion-related funding after rejecting a bid from search giant Google worth as much as $6 billion, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the process.

Power plant operator Dynegy has agreed to be acquired by Icahn Enterprises for $5.50 per share in cash, or about $665 million. Dynegy has about $3.95 billion of outstanding debt, net of cash. The agreement follows a recent failed bid from private equity giant The Blackstone Group.

Rumors are circulating that Oracle is considering buying data storage giant EMC for $50 billion. There are four tests to determine whether a merger has a chance to succeed: Does this one pass or fail?

Nokia released its long-awaited and previously delayed flagship N8 smartphone on Thursday. With the ability to run multiple applications at once and a 12 megapixel camera that shoots HD-quality videos, the device is intended to by Nokia's answer to Apple's iPhone.