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Show 4 Whats News The Breakaway Spring Break In Business and Finance Why the Spurt In Urge Hits and Misses to Moiyei' U.S. mar.r ibjrt releases alien don1 lurrv 4 profit unli? IhevSe 5 eld abo-j50Li03 ttrcMi. fi as ifJj5t; hits lop-jfor all uf Is muses. CM the M55 re -ailm-ndwlrv t't the tve jur jsc Matt pa rues m 2uO I. - -- H) sold family-operate- d two-thir- d Data Buoy Hu pcs flew economic data sugges-- t the reeesswu may be over. The U JS. ecLCiotnv grew more than first estimated during the Iasi three inwitlisof2iX.il as record car sales boosted consumer spending. Gross domestic product, u measure of all good, and send res produced l In the U.S., rose at a revised annual rate during the quarter after previously being estimated as s 0.2"; rise, the Commerce Department said Thursday. A separate repent showed Inltlai jobless claim, l.-- by 17,d:0 to 378.000 hist week, in cooes - 98 aftumt sold yUG 20ft SifeHMMS ta 4'K - XO ccptcs sold ICC UCO to 24H.CCO coqtrs nent. The economy's fourth-quarte- break, Huongs cf spiring college mills students, r slathered in sunscreen, will S 1 descend upro Khcida anil Texas Leach tewns for a week ot uribrtdl-erevelry. Or they'll attend tine G(.fiel Brunch" In foimnieu. Tired of (lie same old Spuing Break'.' Ocha fore in Jamaica Is ottering students a program called Fun In the Sen, including concerts, visits to churches JL ar1 Sturt but a revision in earlier Labor Department data indicated employment is Improving. Stocks were mixed as investors weighed tire revised GDP data and comments from federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday indicating lie believes that a modest economic recovery has begun and that tliere is lltLIe risk of inflation. f3r. Greenspans comments, made in testimony before a congressional coramitlee, helped reassure Investors lhal the recession Is probably over and that a boost in Interest rates Isn't immir performance follows a GDP during Die third quarter. For all of 2011 the economy grew at a 1 3 rate, the worst yearly performance since a 0.5 decline in 1091. For this year the Fed predicts the U.S. economy will grow between 2.5 and 371. Napster Gets Boost From Judges Ruling said shuttered tnc. online music service couUt question the validity of and ccpvrlgbls whether recording companies ba1 vloUted nntllrusl laws by dealing n online music services. their The ruling by U.S. District July? Marilyn Hall Patel In San Francisco is a small victory for Napster In lls Inlegal dispute with the recording dustry. But Jixlge Patel's language, while' nef legally binding at this case stage, suggested that Hierecordcould rebound against the ing companies that successrully stiut Napster last year. Judge Patel siid Napster court Jli iru tvru fo tvj f 1 Uar projects. Since (lie prum.rt.lon began tn January, 170 have signed up. 'Before stumbled on that. 1 was jeailv trying to avoid tile spring-bleatime,' says Tnnlsha Wiley, a graduate student from Chicago wtxi slielted cut nearly H,CXJ lor the trip. 1 didn't want to be down there with crazy college kids. Move over. Outrun. In tlse latest bkl to try to bocst business, travel companies are hying to beet up the options for spring break. Some, tike the Montego Bay and Oclio Rlc torusm boards hi Jamaica, are trying to push trips that might be more appealing to parents. Others are merely steering the usual bacchanalia from Florida and Texas to some surprising spots: Ireland, Rica-ev- en Cbsta Singapore. Tltere's even a special insurance pulley deiwlad to spring-brea- k Bottom line: Die marketing push behind these trips, should ttiey catch cm, could well redefine the concept cf spring break. But tliere nre drawbacks. Shunning the traditional spring break has disappcmled some students. About this time last year, Birdie and three triends went back- packing m tlte Scottish Highlanda. Since It was the they managed to avoid the crowds, but with a blizzard. they had a run-iThat place is perpetually yucky." says tine University ol Michigan grad, wlio cunsKtoied hlniS'dl liKky lie and his o.impanloms bad hor sunny days cul o( 1U. .And the new trips coubl be a hard sell for other reasons. kids and foreign laws arid terrain can be a had mix. In Singapore, foir Instance, penalties lor mischief c.in be high. lkemen)ber Micliael F.iy, the U.S. teenager lashed with a rattan cane for vandalism in And setne local outlttters cn data Rica, pcfiutnr with ndventuieojine recorils, sludenta. have spe-tt- vmna tlve Lf.S. Vcvise- - state Department. (iiifl to .V' i f 1nrff r i1 J PTa A federal Judge , tm ) GollegeJonnial.com from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Hf1 class and your career with The Visit o:ptrs. 82 albums srrd bCO XO Ti4 Mtr tllHM MSfr What You Need successful 3 By XDiiki.i.e Hbb.isu Nap-ste- r Recession Is Over Subscribe today! sumt at mere- e Be Partying in Singapore? kHraw Big business just keeps un getting bigger. Powckful forces are driving American industries to consotld.vle Into markets in which a tew sellers otter similar pi educes. Regulatory and judicial are beeswing less fcrm1.s-bland the rewards are growing, paitiruiaity in the world f technology, media and telecommunications, where fixed casts are especially large and the fast of senriug each additional customer Is smalt. The latest case m point : Last week's surprise offer by defense coudractar Northrop Grumman Ccrp. to purchase automfOve aixi aertopace contractor TRW Inc. In a stock deal valued at $3.92 billion. Consider outer evidence of g oligopot tes: Twenty years ago, cable television was dominated by a patchwork of thousands of tiny, companies, fo&sy, a pending deal would leave tltree comp riles in control of nearly of the market. tn 1090, three big publishers of college textbooks accounted lor 35 of Industry sales. Today they have SStw. tn 1996. when Congress deregulated teiecommuiucatMas, there were eight Baby Bette. Today there are lour, and dozens of small rivals are dead. tn IKQ, more than 10 significant firms offered Web sites. Today, three dominate. An oligopoly can produce efficiencies that give consumers better products at lower prices, Bui K can also destroy the competition that prevents firms from pushing prices well above costs and that forces them to change or die. i.. uni Tim'd Firms Are Touting Some Unusual Spots; To Wall Succeed Street Journal subscrlbe.wsj.comstudent in print and online. 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