The news at a glance

Jobs: Unemployment falls to 9 percent

The latest jobs numbers “point to a labor market frozen in place,” said Neil Irwin in The Washington Post. The unemployment rate fell slightly in October, to 9 percent, with a net gain of 80,000 jobs, further easing fears of a double-dip recession. But progress is still too slight to make a significant dent in the nation’s joblessness. “Things are moving in the right direction, but they’re not moving fast enough,” said Alan Krueger, the new chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. One problem is that continued layoffs by state and local governments are offsetting job creation in the private sector. Public-sector jobs now account for the lowest share of U.S. employment since 2008.

The gloomy jobs picture led the Federal Reserve to lower its forecast of future economic growth, said Binyamin Appelbaum in The New York Times. The Fed predicted last week that the economy would grow 2.5 percent to 2.9 percent next year, “well below its June projection of 3.3 percent to 3.7 percent.” The Fed expects the unemployment rate to remain above 8.5 percent through 2012. “We have taken a lot of actions” to get the economy moving, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said. But “the area where we have fallen short obviously is on the unemployment side.”

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Pharma: Glaxo pays $3 billion for illegal promotions

British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay the U.S. government a $3 billion settlement, “the largest agreed at one time by a pharmaceutical company,” said Andrew Jack and Alexandra Stevenson in the Financial Times. The company had been investigated for improperly paying doctors to promote Avandia, a diabetes drug whose sale was restricted last year after it was linked to heart attack risks, and for suspect marketing practices for eight other drugs. These matters “do not reflect the company that we are today,” said GSK’s CEO, Andrew Witty.

Banks: G-20 names 29 ‘too big to fail’ global banks

The G-20 group of major economies last week imposed new rules on 29 banks deemed critical to the global financial system, said Daniel Flynn in Reuters.com. The banks will be required to hold more capital than rivals and to create “living wills” detailing how the banks can be wound down without taxpayer help should they run into trouble. Among the eight U.S. banks listed are Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase; 17 others are European and four are Asian.

Tech: Groupon shares soar after market debut

Groupon raised $700 million in its initial public offering Friday, marking the “biggest IPO for an Internet company since Google” went public in 2004, said David Roeder in the Chicago Sun-Times. Shares of the Chicago-based online-coupon merchant rose more than 30 percent on the first day of public trading, closing north of $26. Groupon placed just 5.5 percent of the company on the market, which helped stoke demand. But the price could be volatile in the months ahead as analysts gauge whether the company can decrease its heavy spending on marketing and fend off its many copycat rivals.

Retail: Stores plan ‘Black Midnight’ for shoppers

Major retailers are starting the post-Thanksgiving shopping season as early as technically possible, said Miguel Bustillo and Ann Zimmerman in The Wall Street Journal. Big chain stores such as Macy’s, Best Buy, Target, and Kohl’s are opening at midnight the day after Thanksgiving “in hopes of getting a jump on the competition” on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. “Once one retailer goes early, the rest feel obligated to follow,” says retail consultant Joel Bines. But the earlier hours may not help, given that spending Black Friday at the mall “looks increasingly antiquated” now that more people shop online.