Business Briefs

Unemployment lowest in 2 years\nWASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent in January, the lowest level in more than two years, as employers stepped up hiring -- but not at a brisk enough pace to ease concerns about the prolonged job drought.\nJanuary's unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage point to the lowest level since October 2001, when it was 5.4 percent. Last month's rate matched the 5.6 percent posted in January 2002, the Labor Department reported Friday.\nCompanies added 112,000 new U.S. jobs overall, marking the fifth straight month of payroll gains and the largest in three years. But economists had expected a larger increase of 150,000 new jobs or more.\nConference meets to deal with slumping dollar\nBOCA RATON, Fla. -- The United States and its major economic allies were arguing Friday over how best to deal with the slumping U.S. dollar and America's soaring budget and trade deficits.\nThe dispute surfaced at the winter meeting of the Group of Seven wealthy industrial countries -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada -- being held this year at a luxury resort on Florida's Gold Coast.\nThe U.S. delegation, led by Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, found itself at odds with officials from Europe who contend the dollar's decline is hurting their growth prospects by jeopardizing European exports.\nMajor drug-maker cancels cancer drug testing\nTRENTON, N.J. -- Schering-Plough Corp. has canceled late-stage human testing of a drug for the most common type of lung cancer, the latest disappointment as new management tries to rebuild the money-losing company's product portfolio.\nHowever, the Kenilworth-based drug maker said Friday it would continue mid-stage testing of the drug, Sarasar, against several other types of cancer, including leukemia and solid tumors such as head and neck cancers.\nSchering-Plough shares fell 42 cents, or more than 2 percent, to close at $18.55 on the New York Stock Exchange.