Week in review

New London landings: March 29, Northwest Airlines will begin flying from the Twin Cities to London's Heathrow Airport instead of Gatwick Airport, which is more distant from central London.

Pharma deal: Bloomington-based MGI Pharma Inc. is being taken over by a Japanese firm for $3.9 billion in cash. Tokyo-based Eisai Co. Ltd., best known for drugs for Alzheimer's disease and gastrointestinal disorders, wants MGI Pharma, which is focused on cancer-related drugs, to broaden its lineup.

Fed up: The Fed, reacting to continuing tight credit conditions, lowered its benchmark Fed funds rate by a quarter-point to 4.25 percent. The markets had been hoping for a more aggressive half-point and sold off on the news.

House poor: The November housing market was a turkey in the Twin Cities area. Closed sales were down about 20 percent compared with a year ago, and pending sales were no better. Meanwhile, prices had their biggest year-over-year decline at 5.1 percent. The median price of closed sales was $216,500.

Wired deal? Shares of MoneyGram International rose nearly 16 percent after the company received a takeover bid from another money-transfer firm, Euronet Worldwide.

Inflation: The latest inflation report was bad news: Consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in November, the biggest gain since September 2005. Energy costs were the main culprit, up 5.7 percent.

THOMAS BUCKINGHAM