Business News

WASHINGTON - The nation's unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.

JOBLESS CLAIMS JUMP: The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose 15,000 to 444,000 last week. Economists expected that number to drop.

WASHINGTON - Americans' productivity soared in the spring while labor costs declined, two welcome outcomes that should relieve concerns that inflation is getting out of hand.

FRANKFURT, Germany - The European Central Bank and Bank of England will likely leave interest rates unchanged on Thursday as they face mounting inflation and slowing growth.

WASHINGTON - Construction spending took a bigger-than-expected tumble in July as housing activity dropped to the lowest level in seven years and nonresidential activity fell for the first time in seven months.

NEW YORK - Wall Street fell for a second straight session Friday following a worrisome reading on the nation's job market, but stocks pulled off of steep losses as investors sought bargains in sectors like financials and consumer staples.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed in volatile trade on Friday as a bounce in financial shares offset concerns about the economy after a bleak labor market report.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock market index extended its losses on Friday as disappointing U.S. jobs data and falling oil prices weighed on the market.

LONDON (AFP) - The FTSE ended the week sharply lower Friday, with miners suffering the biggest losses amid ongoing concerns over the global economy and disappointing US jobless data.

LONDON - World stock markets fell sharply Friday in the wake of a sell-off on Wall Street amid mounting concerns about a slumping U.S. economy and its impact on global growth.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., - National Semiconductor Corp., which makes chips that regulate power and perform other functions in gadgets, reported Friday its first-quarter profit fell 7 percent from a year ago due to a higher tax rate.

In the recent round of earnings reports, a number of solar industry executives said solar panel demand and prices next year might hold up better than expected.

WASHINGTON - SeaChange International Inc. reported fiscal 2009 second-quarter results that beat Wall Street's estimates late Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Video game publisher Take Two Interactive Software made a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on strong "Grand Theft Auto 4" sales, but cut its current-quarter outlook due to the delayed release of a new game.

LOS ANGELES - Toll Brothers Inc. said Thursday it swung to a loss in its fiscal third quarter as weak demand for new homes forced the luxury builder to mark down the value of its land and unsold homes.

KOLKATA, India (AFP) - Talks on Friday between India's West Bengal government and protesters aimed at rescuing a factory slated to make the world's cheapest car ended without a breakthrough, an official said.

Honda will reveal a concept version of its new small hybrid vehicle, to be named Insight, at the 2008 Paris International Auto Show, October 2, the company announced Thursday.

WASHINGTON - The government on Friday began posting a list of prescription drugs under investigation for potential safety problems, in an effort to better inform doctors and patients.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Expensive advertising of prescription drugs directly to consumers may do little to encourage sales, U.S. and Canadian researchers reported on Monday.

Just one day after Dell announced it was moving into the market of netbooks by introducing its new Inspiron Mini 9, which weighs less than 2.3 pounds and has an 8.9-inch LED display, the company said it is partnering with Vodafone to resell the Mini 9 in Europe.

Well, it didn't have quite as many fireworks as Senator Barack Obama's performance in Denver last week -- either the real kind or the rhetorical kind. And it lacked the dramatic tension of the national debut of Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. But in a low-key, at times passionate, speech on Sept. 4, Senator John McCain officially joined the fight against Obama as he accepted the nomination to become his party's standard bearer before an enthusiastic crowd at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Houses in Sunnyvale, Calif., home to companies such as Juniper Network (NasdaqGS:JNPR - News), AMD , and Yahoo! (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News), are typically on the market for 66 days, making it the fastest-selling real estate market in the country. That's the good news. The bad news is that listings a year ago in the affluent Silicon Valley suburb normally sold after just 31 days on the market.

As career choices go, the hotel business isn't one that will put new college grads on the path to riches. With few exceptions, new employees can expect an annual salary of less than $40,000, a figure that has barely budged in recent years. So when Marriott International visited the University of Delaware campus on a recruiting trip, it didn't wave a big wad of cash in front of Claire Pignataro. It didn't have to. It had already hooked her with something she considered far more valuable: a chance to help run a hotel.

WASHINGTON - The nation's unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.

WASHINGTON - More than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, a record 9 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, as damage from the housing crisis worsened, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.

NEW YORK - Wall Street fell for a second straight session Friday following a worrisome reading on the nation's job market, but stocks pulled off of steep losses as investors sought bargains in sectors like financials and consumer staples.

(Reuters) - Dell Inc is trying to sell computer factories around the world in efforts to cut cost and improve profitability, the Wall Street Journal said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An unexpectedly steep 84,000 U.S. jobs were lost in August and the unemployment rate hit a five-year high of 6.1 percent, fanning worry ahead of November's presidential vote that the economy was near recession.