Unemployment increased slightly in November

Herald staff

WASHINGTON — The nation’s unemployment rate, after being at a three-decade low for two months, edged up to 4 percent in November in what analysts viewed as evidence that the economy’s remarkable stretch of supercharged growth was coming to an end.

The Labor Department said Friday the jobless rate rose 0.1 percentage point from 3.9 percent, where it had been in both September and October, the lowest level reached during the record 9 1/2-year economic expansion.

In addition to the uptick in the jobless rate, the government reported that growth in payroll jobs slowed abruptly over the past two months, with just 94,000 jobs created in November, an increase that was held back by a big drop in government jobs.

More disclosure considered: The proliferation of financial talking heads touting stocks on the airwaves has prompted federal regulators to consider requiring analysts who make stock recommendations to disclose whether they or their investment firm could profit from such advice. Investors deserve to know about such potential conflicts of interest, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission says.

Friday prices: Gold sold for $272.95 a troy ounce, silver sold for $4.71 and platinum sold for $607.90.

Electric cars: California regulators are concluding that the drive to cleaner air shouldn’t necessarily be in an electric car. In a move that alarmed environmentalists but failed to placate automakers, staff for the state’s air-quality board Friday proposed to sharply scale back a rule that would put thousands of battery-powered vehicles on California roads by 2003.