U.S. jobless claims

fell last week

The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell 22,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 344,000 and the four-week average of applications dropped for the first time in three weeks. Stronger hiring is one of the reasons economists expect growth is probably picking up, along with a strengthening housing U.S. market.

Poker closures

may hint at trend

At least eight Las Vegas casinos have shut down their poker rooms in the past two years, in a pattern also reaching Mississippi riverboats, Indian casinos and gambling halls near big cities from California to Florida. The latest closures on Sin City’s strip and declining revenues from the card game now have some wondering if poker fever has cooled.

J.C. Penney sales,

shares price decline

Shares of J.C. Penney Co. plunged nearly 16 percent on Thursday, the biggest loser on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index for most of the day. The drop came a day after the national department-store chain reported its fourth consecutive larger-than-expected quarterly loss on another steep sales decline.

Mining executive

eyed in fatal blast

A former president of a Massey Energy subsidiary implicated the company’s chief executive officer for the first time in safety violations as he pleaded guilty Thursday to charges resulting from an investigation into the 2010 explosion at a Massey mine that killed 29 men. Federal prosecutors declined to comment on whether the claims will bring charges.

Chrysler invests

in Indiana jobs

Chrysler said it will invest nearly $400 million and create 1,250 new jobs at transmission and metal casting factories in the Kokomo, Indiana, area. The car maker will spend another $212 million for new equipment and tooling at three other factories, creating 400 new jobs.

Jury says J&J liable

in implant case

A New Jersey jury has orders Johnson & Johnson to pay a former nurse $7.8 million in punitive damages, on top of $3.35 million in compensatory damages, over her claims its Prolift vaginal mesh implant caused years of terrible pain despite 18 unsuccessful repair surgeries. J&J vowed to appeal the verdict.

Caterpillar makes

job cuts in Belgium

Construction equipment maker Caterpillar says it will cut more than one in three jobs at its Belgian plant because of high labor costs and sluggish growth in its European market. Caterpillar Inc. said Thursday it plans to cut 1,400 of the 3,400 jobs at its Gosselies plant south of Brussels alongside other measures aimed at restoring the site’s competitiveness.