Groupon

Alphabuyer Inc., a year-old Paoli e-commerce company that enlists customers for "group buying for your bills," probably could have picked something a little sexier to start with than the humble electric bill. But since launching last year with discount offers for Peco Energy Co. electricity customers, the group-buying service has expanded into three other states including New Jersey, and other commodities like natural gas. Cofounder Kevin Johnson imagines that eventually every savvy, penny-pinching customer would go through Alphabuyer to join groups to buy anything from discounted Internet and cellphone service to gasoline, heating oil or antivirus software subscriptions.

In the Region FDA flags N.J. dental company The Food and Drug Administration said Monday a New Jersey company had been barred from making and selling a variety of dental products because of violations at its manufacturing facility in Newark. The FDA said a court order against Accurate Set required the company to halt operations until the agency verifies that its dental implants meet federal standards. FDA inspectors said they found numerous quality-control violations.

The stretch of South Street from Broad Street west into Grays Ferry has been growing as a food destination, what with such recent arrivals as the Cambridge , Magpie Artisan Pie Boutique , Sawatdee , and the Quick Fixx , and with the second location of Honey's Sit 'n Eat opening shortly at 21st and South Streets. Saturday will see the debut of Miles Table at 1620 South St. (267-318-7337), a cozy, neighborhood-friendly spot from Michael Lynch, whose business Catering by Miles counts for much of the reason people want to join Lombard Swim Club, where he's the exclusive caterer.

NEW YORK - Stocks pared losses Friday as investors took encouragement about the economy from a report by the University of Michigan showing that consumer confidence rose more than expected in November. The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 4.07 points at 12,815.39. The S&P advanced 2.34 points to 1,379.85, and the Nasdaq composite gained 9.29 points to 9,204.87. But the stock market finished one of the worst weeks of the year, pushing Washington to work out a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" - the tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1. For the week, the Dow fell 277 points, or 2.1 percent.

MILWAUKEE - A business offering walking tours of serial-killer Jeffrey Dahmer's haunts in Milwaukee has offered to donate some proceeds to a charity that supports the parents of murder victims, but that group said yesterday that it wants no part of it. Nancy Ruhe, executive director of the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, said the organization would never accept money from a group that profits from someone else's murderous acts....

It was the stock market event of the year, sure to make millions of dollars for venture capitalists, investment banks and other financiers, and billions for Facebook's founders and earliest backers. It was a cultural benchmark - the day when the phenomenon of "social media," a term many consider synonymous with the company Mark Zuckerberg created, finally cashed in on years of massive and growing buzz. But Thursday's initial public offering for Facebook shares - the most ballyhooed IPO since Google, and successful enough to value Facebook at $104 billion - arrived with some large question marks posted on its wall.