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Employers add 227,000 more jobs

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

By Staff and wire reports 2 min read

Employers add 227,000 more jobs

U.S. companies added 227,000 jobs in October, a private survey found, a healthy gain that suggests companies are still finding workers to hire even as the unemployment rate has fallen to a 49-year low.

Payroll processor ADP says that employers added jobs in manufacturing, retail, and professional services such as engineering.

GM offers buyouts to 18,000 workers

As General Motors reported a healthy $2.5 billion third-quarter profit, the Detroit automaker ramped up its cost-cutting efforts by offering buyouts to 18,000 white-collar workers.

The company, while acknowledging it’s in good shape now, said Wednesday it needs to be smaller to prepare for tougher times that might be ahead as it continues to get ready for a future of electric and autonomous vehicles.

Fed may ease capital rules

The Federal Reserve is proposing to ease requirements for holding capital and cash for U.S. banks that are big but smaller than the Wall Street mega-banks.

The Fed’s proposal is the latest move by federal regulators to relax government oversight of financial firms in line with President Donald Trump’s objectives. The Fed governors also are looking to ease the schedule for the agency’s “stress tests” for banks, based on their size and risk.

L.L. Bean looks north to boost retail sales

L.L. Bean is looking to the north – to Canada – to boost sales.

The outdoors gear retailer has signed an agreement in which its products will be sold in 30 stores in Canada for the holiday season, and in L.L. Bean-branded stores opening over the next decade. The company also has launched a dedicated Canadian website that incorporates duties and smooths out currency fluctuations.

Regulators scrutinize asbestos trust funds

The Trump administration has stepped up scrutiny of trust funds for victims of asbestos exposure. The Justice Department is demanding documents for a civil investigation and injecting itself into corporate bankruptcy cases. The actions take aim at a system that compensates the sick but that critics say is opaque, prone to fraud and manipulation. The government’s intervention aligns it with business groups who complain about the process and could result in closer oversight.