Call-in hours expanded for claims

Pennsylvanians will now be able to file claims for unemployment compensation benefits six days a week. Labor and Industry Acting Secretary Sandi Vito said in a statement that call-in hours for the unemployment compensation toll-free phone number, 1-888-313-7284, would now be available Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The call center also is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The additional Sunday hours mark the first time call centers will be available to answer every type of unemployment compensation question, the department said. Customers also can get information or file a claim for unemployment compensation benefits online 24 hours a day at www.dli.state.pa.us.

Exchange adds market share

Nasdaq OMX PHLX, as the former Philadelphia Stock Exchange is known, gained market share in the options industry for the third year in a row, according to the Options Clearing Corp. PHLX logged market share of 15.28 percent last year, up from 14.24 percent in 2007 and 13.47 percent in 2006. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. bought PHLX for $652 million in July.

Pa. revenue collections weak in Dec.

The Pennsylvania Revenue Department says its December collections ran $157 million below target. Six months into the state government's fiscal year, collections are $815 million less than projected. The latest figures show the state's general fund taking in 6.8 percent less than expected for the fiscal year that ends June 30. Sales, personal income, corporate income and inheritance taxes are all lagging behind. Dwindling state coffers have led to belt-tightening in Harrisburg and fueled a debate about whether to cut spending, draw down reserves, or increase taxes.

GMAC gives up some financing

GMAC LLC will no longer have exclusive rights to provide no- or low-interest loans to people who take advantage of General Motors financing incentives, as part of the complex deal that gave the troubled lender billions in federal aid. The move could reduce the Detroit automaker's dependence on GMAC to provide financing and possibly boost its sales by giving consumers more options for affordable loans. GMAC, which provides GM dealer and customer financing in addition to home mortgage loans, disclosed the terms of the agreement in a regulatory filing. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, GMAC said General Motors Corp. could now offer financing incentives such as zero-percent loans through other lenders under certain circumstances.

Debt trouble at Lee triggers warning

Lee Enterprises Inc., publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other newspapers, said in a regulatory filing that it would have trouble paying its debt over the next two years because of severe reductions in revenue. The company also disclosed that its outside auditor is questioning Lee's ability to remain a "going concern" if the company is unable to refinance some loans. Industry analysts said, however, that the auditor's assessment was largely a technicality, one likely to be mirrored as other newspaper companies file annual reports over the next few months that reflect a disappointing 2008. Like the rest of the industry, Lee has seen advertising drop sharply as the recession compounded declines that began with the migration of readers and advertisers to the Internet. Lee depends on advertising for about three-quarters of its revenue.

Visteon cutting worker hours, pay

Automotive supplier Visteon Corp. said it would shift more than 2,000 workers to a four-day week and cut their pay by 20 percent as tight credit and collapsing sales cause huge industry losses. The moves will begin Monday and affect all 2,000 workers at Visteon's headquarters in Michigan's Van Buren Township and 50 at a testing center in Plymouth, Mich. The company, which was spun off from Ford Motor Co. in 2000, has about 35,000 employees in 27 countries. Visteon's North Penn Electronics Plant is in Lansdale, Montgomery County; its products include satellite radio systems.

E*Trade Fined $1 Million

Two E*Trade Financial Corp. subsidiaries were fined a total of $1 million for failing to implement anti-money-laundering checks for detecting suspicious securities trades, the brokerage industry's main regulator said. E*Trade Securities LLC and E*Trade Clearing used inadequate techniques, based on their business models, to monitor transactions from January 2003 until May 2007, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said in a statement. The company assigned analysts and other employees to manually check for suspicious trades without giving them sufficient automated tools, the Washington-based regulator said. The divisions of New York-based E*Trade did not admit or deny wrongdoing in settling the allegations.

Enron's Kopper freed

Michael Kopper, a former Enron Corp. executive convicted of helping ex-chief financial officer Andrew Fastow skim millions of dollars from the energy trader, was released from federal custody after serving less than two-thirds of his sentence. Kopper was the first Enron executive to cut a deal, pleading guilty to two conspiracy counts and cooperating with prosecutors pursuing other company officials. In 2006, a federal judge who heard Kopper testify sentenced him to 37 months, compared with the 15-year maximum term he agreed to in his plea. Kopper served about 23 months of his sentence, mostly in low-security prisons in Texarkana and Big Spring, Texas.