CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for some little -- time now for a little 'Business Buzz.' Bundle up, this winter you may have to pay more to heat your home. Carrie Lee reports from the Nasdaq market site in Times Square. Good morning -- Carrie.</s>CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Carol. The falling temperatures have raised some concerns about natural gas supplies. In fact, natural gas prices have risen for six consecutive trading days and that could be bad news for the over 50 million households that heat their homes with natural gas. This is the most popular U.S. heating source. The Energy Department predicts homeowners who use natural gas will see their total winter heating costs rise 6 percent to about $850 versus last year. And this could be a damper on the economy. Higher energy bills can dampen economic activity, read consumer spending, because consumers have less money to spend in non-energy sectors. Consumer spending has been a bright spot throughout the past couple of years. So this something for people to keep an eye on. Meanwhile, HPQ, the ticker symbol for Hewlett-Packard in focus today. The company says it is going to be latest to launch its own online music store and digital music player in January joining Dell Computer. Dell, excuse me, they dropped the computer, also Apple Computer. Looks like everyone is getting into this space, Carol, trying to make some money. Back to you.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq market site. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Winter Heating Costs May Jump 6 Percent This Year