THE ECONOMY

* The number of planned job cuts by U.S. businesses rose in January by 10% from a year ago, following a year in which planned dismissals were at their highest since Challenger, Gray & Christmas began its survey. “This is by far the heaviest stretch of job-cutting we have recorded since we began tracking job-cut announcements in 1989,” Chief Executive John A. Challenger said. Among the industries showing the largest increases in planned job cuts and dismissals in January were retailers, financial services and commodities.