Open jobs fall in November for 2nd month
WASHINGTON -- Employers posted fewer open jobs in November, the second-straight month of decline after openings reached a record high in September.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that the number of available jobs slipped 0.8 percent to 5.88 million, down from 5.93 million in October. September's peak was 6.18 million.
Job openings are still 4.4 percent higher than a year ago. With the economy expanding at a solid pace and businesses confident about future demand, hiring is likely to remain solid going forward.
Still, the drop-off echoes last Friday's monthly jobs report, which saw employers add 148,000 jobs in December. That is a decent total but lower than October and November job gains, which topped 200,000.
The unemployment rate remained 4.1 percent for a third month, the government said Friday.
Economists forecast that hiring may slow this year as businesses struggle to find enough qualified workers.
-- The Associated Press
Sony, Facebook sign deal for video posts
Sony/ATV Music Publishing signed an agreement with Facebook Inc. seeking a share of the social media industry's burgeoning revenue by letting users post songs from artists like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
For Facebook users, the deal means they will no longer have some videos, such as clips of wedding dances, taken down because of the snippets of music being played.
The multiyear accord is the first between the top music publishing company, which oversees a catalog of 3 million songs, and Facebook, the parties said Monday in a statement. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the companies said the accord would give songwriters the opportunity to earn royalties when their music is used on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook has now signed agreements with two of the largest music companies in the world, offering the record industry a bulwark against YouTube, as well as a new and potentially significant source of revenue.
The record industry is in the third year of a recovery thanks to paid services Spotify and Apple Music, which have persuaded more than 100 million people to pay a monthly fee for access to a library of millions of songs. Yet most people still listen to music for free on advertising-supported radio, on-demand services or social networks.
-- Bloomberg News
Oprah-for-'20 talk lifts Weight Watchers
Oprah Winfrey won over the Golden Globes, and that was good news for Weight Watchers International Inc. investors.
Winfrey, who owns 10 percent of the weight-loss company and is featured in its ads, dominated coverage of the Hollywood awards show Sunday night. After receiving the Cecil B. DeMille award for lifetime achievement, she delivered a well-received speech that rekindled rumors she'll run for president in 2020.
While the 63-year-old media mogul told Bloomberg News backstage that she has no plans to run, an anonymous report from CNN that she is thinking about a bid fanned the flames Monday. That helped drive Weight Watchers shares up $4.75, or 9 percent, to close Tuesday at $57.37.
Weight Watchers, which was hammered by free fitness apps and years of subscriber losses, has mounted a comeback since Winfrey bought a stake, joined the board and agreed to pitch the brand in 2015. Since then, her tweets about weight loss on the program have buoyed the shares, which almost quadrupled last year.
The billionaire's marketing strength has also helped the company add customers and increase revenue and profit in recent quarters.
-- Bloomberg News
Venezuela extends 3-island trade ban
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela has extended its ban on air and maritime ties with three nearby Dutch Caribbean islands, citing out-of-control smuggling, officials said Tuesday.
Venezuela is pressing for high-level talks with leaders of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire before trading can resume, officials said.
Vice President Tareck El Aissami said that leaders of the three islands must step up to control criminal groups that he says are smuggling Venezuelan goods, harming citizens of his country.
"We are not going to allow anymore aggression from these criminal organizations," El Aissami said on Twitter, urging leaders of the islands to take action.
President Nicolas Maduro on Friday first ordered the 72-hour ban, accusing island leaders of being complicit in illegal trafficking. It follows threats he made in mid-December to close the routes.
Venezuelan authorities allege that the smuggling of products to neighboring countries is one of the causes of the severe shortage of food and other basic products that the South American country has been facing for several years.
--The Associated Press
Euro-area jobless rate lowest since 2009
Joblessness in the euro area declined to the lowest level since early 2009, raising the prospect of a tighter jobs market finally putting the upward pressure on wages keenly anticipated by the European Central Bank.
The unemployment rate dropped to 8.7 percent in November from 8.8 percent the previous month, according to a report from Eurostat on Tuesday. The reading matches the median of 34 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
While the region's economy has returned to health after a period marred by bank failures, record joblessness and a sovereign-debt crisis that jeopardized the currency union, inflation has proved sluggish -- in part because wages have been slow to rise. In a bid to fuel price pressures, policymakers have committed to continuing asset purchases until at least September.
"While falling unemployment should further boost consumption ... the key question for the ECB is when the unemployment level will start to affect wages," economist Peter Vanden Houte of financial services firm ING said in a note to clients. With a number of companies beginning to see production bottlenecks due to a lack of personnel, "wage growth should start to pick up."
Economic activity in the euro area accelerated to the fastest pace in almost seven years in December as services surged while factories benefited from booming domestic demand and near-record growth in export orders, data last week showed.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 01/10/2018