United, Delta add $3 fee on Europe flightsUnited Airlines added a $3 one-way fee on flights from the U.S. to Europe, matching an earlier charge by Delta Air Lines, as carriers absorb the cost of new European emissions rules. United added the fee Wednesday, said Mike Trevino, a spokesman for the Chicago-based carrier. Delta initiated its charge Tuesday, spokesman Trebor Banstetter said. The International Air Transport Association, a trade group that represents major global carriers, estimates the European emissions rules could cost airlines $1.2 billion this year.
U.S. initial jobless claims declined last weekFewer Americans filed claims for unemployment insurance payments last week, showing the labor market is starting 2012 on better footing than a year earlier. Applications for jobless benefits decreased 15,000 in the week ended Dec. 31 to 372,000, Labor Department figures showed. The median estimate of 38 economists in a Bloomberg News survey forecast 375,000 claims. The average over the past four weeks declined to the lowest level in more than three years.
IRS auditing more returns from top earnersThe Internal Revenue Service said it audited 12.48 percent of individual tax returns with income exceeding $1 million during fiscal 2011, a high reached at a time of debate over the taxation of top earners. The announcement marks the third consecutive year that the IRS increased its audit rate on returns showing income of more than $1 million. According to IRS data, the previous record was the 8.36 percent of returns in that category audited during fiscal 2010.
J&J said to reach settlement in drug probeJohnson & Johnson will pay more than $1 billion to the U.S. and most states to resolve a civil investigation into marketing of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, Bloomberg News reported. J&J, the world's largest health products company, reached an accord last week with the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, Bloomberg said, citing anonymous sources. The U.S. government has been investigating Risperdal sales practices since 2004, including allegations the company marketed the drug for unapproved uses.
Service-sector growth falls short of forecastsService industries in the U.S. expanded less than forecast in December, indicating improvement in the economy will be uneven. The Institute for Supply Management's index of nonmanufacturing industries, which account for almost 90 percent of the economy, rose to 52.6 last month from 52 in November, the Tempe, Ariz.-based group said. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an increase to 53.
Apartment vacancies in U.S. at 10-year lowU.S. apartment vacancies dropped to a 10-year low in the fourth quarter, allowing for rent increases that are likely to continue this year, Reis Inc. said. The vacancy rate fell to 5.2 percent, the lowest since the end of 2001, the New York-based property research firm said. It was 5.6 percent in the previous three months and 6.6 percent a year earlier. The average monthly effective rent, or what tenants paid after landlord giveaways, climbed 2.3 percent from a year earlier to $1,009.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
