holiday gift

Netflix wants to thank you for your loyalty. The beleaguered video rental giant is offering subscribers to its DVD plans an extra disc this month. No catch, no bait and switch: Just a straight good will gesture after a year of missteps.

Shoppers looking to buy this season's most popular gifts may end up leaving stores with rain checks instead. It looks like retailers weren't kidding when they warned earlier this year that they were cutting back on inventory to avoid markdowns.