Crude oil prices drop

Crude oil futures prices fell below $42 a barrel Tuesday despite supply fears prompted by an attack on a U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia and unrest in Nigeria.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell $1.52 to settle at $41.46 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Axel Busch, chief correspondent for Energy Intelligence Group in London, said the dip in crude reflected the market’s weakness compared with a few weeks ago.

“There is plenty of oil around, stocks are being built up, and everybody has been producing flat out to take advantage of the prices, which are still high in relative terms,” Busch said.

Economy

Productivity slows, raising hopes of hiring

The productivity of America’s workers grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the slowest pace in nearly two years, the government reported Tuesday.

The deceleration in this vital economic indicator, however, raised some hope that employers who have squeezed so much efficiencies out of their existing work forces may seek to boost hiring as a way to meet customer demand.

The Labor Department’s latest snapshot of productivity — the amount an employee produces for every hour of work — showed that efficiency gains were slightly weaker than the 1.9 percent growth rate first estimated for the July-to-September quarter.

Work force

Job-cut plans rise

Planned job cuts at U.S. firms climbed during November, a report said Tuesday, in a further sign of sluggishness in the labor market.

Employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said U.S. companies announced 104,530 in November, compared with 101,840 in October.

The report said the job shortfall could prompt consumers to curtail spending during the holidays.

Wall Street

Dow falls triple digits

Stocks slumped Tuesday as investors sifted through mixed economic data and rumors about big merger deals, including a report that consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson is in talks to purchase a leading medical device maker.

Analysts said the lackluster trading was characteristic of the first part of December, when a lull often precedes an end-of-year rally. But there’s no guarantee the market will benefit from the so-called Santa Claus effect this year, as stocks already have posted an advance during the last two months and now appear somewhat overextended.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 106.48, or 1.01 percent, to 10,440.58.

Money

Dollar hits low vs. euro

The U.S. dollar sank to a new all-time low against the euro Tuesday amid concerns about the U.S. trade and budget deficits and worse-than-expected U.S. employment data.

The euro rose to a record high of $1.3470 in European trading before easing back to $1.3432 in late New York trading, up from $1.3417 late Monday. The old record was $1.3460, set Friday.