NEW YORK - US share prices drifted mainly higher at the opening of an abbreviated pre-holiday session on Wednesday as traders shrugged off another round of weak economic data.

VIENNA - MORE bad economic news from the US sent oil prices tumbling Wednesday, with a barrel of crude briefly fetching less than US$37 (S$53) in thin Christmas Eve trading.

WASHINGTON - CONSUMER spending fell for a fifth straight month in November, the longest weak stretch in a half-century, while incomes declined under the weight of massive job layoffs.

The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that consumer spending fell 0.6 per cent last month, slightly smaller than the 0.7 per cent drop that economists had expected.