News from dookie

Sales of gas guzzling four-wheel drive vehicles have dropped sharply in Britain amid looming tax increases aimed at fighting air pollution and curbing global warming.

The Hamilton County sheriff is pushing county commissioners hard to create a sales tax to pay for a new jail.

Investors will get a first look at whether early strong holiday sales for electronics are translating into higher profits when Best Buy Co. Inc. reports its quarterly results next week.

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- German retail sales expanded last month at the fastest pace since May as consumers spent more in anticipation of a sales tax increase in Europe`s largest economy, the Bloomberg purchasing managers index showed.

Automating the sales process is one of the most important functions of a CRM system. In fact, much of today`s CRM software has its origins back in the mid-`80s and early `90s, not as "customer relationship management" software, but instead as "sales automation" software.

Lehman Brothers analyst Israel Hernandez told clients Oralce may miss his sales forecast of $871 million.

Microsoft Corp. forecast on Wednesday that sales of its Zune music player will exceed one million units by the end of June 2007 despite a tepid start for the device.

Sales declined 15 percent from a year earlier, to $244.9 million in the period ended Oct. 31, according to the company.