Do the nasty tweets about Skittles mean that companies that want to incorporate user-generated content on their Web site are doomed? "No, it means they should use a social media aggregator, such as FriendFeed or Plaxo, that pulls together everything people are posting about a subject or a brand on social networking sites, blogs and photo-sharing systems," Laurie Burkitt writes.

Fidelity Investments in introducing a three-pronged financial guidance program in an effort to reassure wary investors, Robert Weisman reports. It will host more than 500 free seminars this month, covering more than a dozen topics for customers and non-customers alike at its investment centers across the country. If there's enough demand, it will extend the seminars beyond March. Fidelity is also rolling out free online calculators and other Web-based tools at www.fidelity.com to help investors evaluate their portfolios. And it is launching an advertising campaign promoting its program, called Guide to Personal Savings, or GPS. Research shows that 83% …

A bipartisan proposal unveiled in Washington, D.C., yesterday would open a vast new market for generic drugmakers and lead to competition for brand-name biotechnology companies. Biotech drugs, or biologics, are man-made forms of human proteins and tougher to produce than traditional medicines, Lisa Richwine reports. Rep. Henry Waxman, D - Calif., joined by a Democratic colleague and two Republicans, said biotech drugs are the fastest-growing and most expensive part of the nation's prescription drug bill. Generic versions could provide safe alternatives while saving money for patients, employers, insurers and the federal government, the lawmakers said. Similar bills died …

After seeing designer clothes marked down by as much as 75% in recent months, consumers are challenging high prices. Buyers for high-end retailers such as Neiman-Marcus are, in turn, putting the squeeze on designers to control costs. Getting consumers to stop waiting for everything to hit the bargain rack is a crucial challenge for the luxury goods business, Rachel Dodes reports. "We have to get the customer to buy [at] full-price," says Rachel Goldberger, Neiman's vp and divisional merchandise manager for women's designer sportswear. "If you offer the value up front, you won't get this discounting nonsense." Many …

Most marketing pundits worth their full-valued salt have maintained that slashing prices damages the long-term equity of brands; now a new Yankelovich survey convincingly confirms that conventional wisdom. Proof positive, of course, is in the WSJ story above about Neiman-Marcus trying to restore a full-price mentality to its shopper's buying habits. But for what it's worth, 70% of consumers responding to the Dollars & Consumer Sense 2009 study say such cuts probably mean the brand was overpriced in the first place; 62% say they assume that the product is old and the retailer is just trying to get rid …

U.S. retail sales fell 0.1% in February -- the seventh decline in the past eight months -- but the drop was less than economists expected. Excluding autos, sales actually climbed 0.7%, the Commerce Department says.