A Week's Worth

• Dragged down by heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 9.36 points Friday, but still ended the week above 12000 for the first time.

• Sending a child to college now costs so much that well under half of all parents expect to foot the whole bill themselves. According to results of a new study by AllianceBernstein Investments, only 30 percent of parents have financial plans in place that take that goal into account. Meanwhile, many parents, it found, have unrealistic expectations about the availability of grants, scholarships, and other aid. Indeed, 87 percent of respondents told the survey they're counting on some combination of the above to cover a portion of the cost.

• Looking for some part-time work this Christmas? It may not be hard to find. Already, more than 15,000 retail-sector jobs for the holiday shopping period have been posted on Yahoo! HotJobs, the service says. Nor are they all in sales. Some are in accounting, customer service, delivery, catering, and on hotel staffs.

• Julia Roberts, Katie Couric, or the president of the US? The Ladies Home Journal asked 529 women with whom they'd most like to trade places for a week. The winner: CBS News anchor Couric (15 percent). Movie star Roberts came in second, at 13 percent. Full results will appear in the magazine's November issue.