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Reinsurance Group of America reported a lower profit for the fourth quarter, recording net income of $158.5 million, or $2.15 per share, compared with $196.7 million, or $2.62 per share, in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Quarterly premiums rose 13 percent, to $2 billion.

For all of 2011, the company earned $599.6 million, or $8.09 per share, compared with $574.4 million, or $7.69 per share, the previous year. The company, based in Chesterfield, is a large global provider of life reinsurance with offices in America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, Barbados and Bermuda.

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A U.S. official has urged Romanians to avoid the violence that has tarred a week of anti-government protests that have swept the country, injuring more than 60.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in comments broadcast Friday by Romanian media that Washington supported people’s right to protest and express their views “peacefully.”

“But we call on both protesters and authorities to refrain from any violence,” she added.

A majority of the protests have been peaceful, but riot police official Aurel Moise said 100 protesters had been questioned Thursday on suspicion of throwing stones and using iron fences to break through police lines.

Police used tear gas after protesters started a fire and set up a barricade. Five people were injured.

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Employment grew solidly last month and the jobless rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent, offering the strongest evidence yet of an acceleration in economic activity.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 200,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, the most in three months and way above economists’ expectations for a 150,000 gain.

The economy needs to sustain the current pace of job creation to signal a robust recovery is finally under way.

The unemployment rate dropped from a revised 8.7 percent in November, which was previously reported as 8.6 percent. The jobless rate is now the lowest since February 2009.

“This highlights that the U.S. economy is on its way to recovery even as strains in Europe persist,” said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital in Toronto.

Stocks index futures extended gains on the data, while prices for Treasury debt fell. The dollar rose against the euro.

Signs the labor market is gaining traction could offer some comfort for the Obama administration, whose economic policies are constantly attacked by the Republicans.

The state of the labor market could determine whether President Barack Obama gets re-elected in November.

The report cemented views that growth in the fourth quarter accelerated after a tepid performance in the first 9 months of the year.

A string of better-than-expected U.S. economic indicators in recent weeks has highlighted a contrast between the recovery in the world’s biggest economy and Europe, which is already widely believed to be in recession and probably faces worse to come.

Though the payrolls count for October and November was revised to show 8,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported, there is no denying the labor market is recovering.

The separate household survey, from which the jobless rate is derived, showed gains in employment and a modest decline in the labor force, helping to lower the jobless rate.

A broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have stopped looking and those working only part time but who want more work, dropped to an almost three-year low of 15.2 percent from 15.6 percent in November.

Still, the economy needs even faster pace of job growth over a sustained period to make a noticeable dent in the pool of the 23.7 million Americans who remain either out of work or underemployed since the end of the 2007-09 recession business card design.

With the labor market still far from healthy, the debt crisis in Europe unresolved and tensions over Iran threatening to drive up oil prices, the U.S. economy faces stiff headwinds.

Economists predict the recovery will lose a step early this year after expanding in the fourth quarter at what is expected to be the fastest pace in 1-1/2 years.

This should keep alive the possibility of the Federal Reserve embarking on a third round of asset purchases, or quantitative easing, to spur stronger growth.

GOVERNMENT A DRAG

All the job gains in December came from the private sector, where payrolls rose 212,000 - the most in three months. Government employment contracted 12,000.

For all of 2011, the private sector added 1.9 million jobs, while government employment fell 280,000.

A measure of the share of industries that showed job gains during the month rebounded after falling sharply in November.

There were job gains in construction, where unseasonably mild weather has boosted groundbreaking for new homes. Construction payrolls increased 17,000 after falling 12,000 in November.

Transportation and warehousing also got a boost from the mild temperatures, with employment jumping 50,200.

The bulk of the transportation increase came from the courier and messenger industry, which rose 42,000, probably reflecting gains from online purchases during the holiday season.

Manufacturing jobs rose 23,000, the largest gain since July. Factory employment rose 225,000 last year.

Retail employment rose 27,900 after hefty gains in November as retailers geared for a busy holiday shopping season.

Healthcare and social assistance increased 28,7000 after rising 20,200 in November. But temporary hiring - seen as a harbinger of future hiring - fell 7,500 in December after gaining 11,200.

Even though employment picked up last month, hourly earnings rose a modest four cents, indicating that most of the jobs being created are low paying. The high unemployment rate also means wages cannot grow much.

This is a potentially troubling sign for consumer spending, which has been largely supported by a reduction in savings.

The average workweek rose to 34.4 hours from 34.3 hours in November.

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Chalk it up to the holiday spirit — or just smart tax planning — but charitable giving is looking up this month.

Giving in December is already up 15% from 2010, according to the latest tally by Network for Good, a site that enables donors to contribute to more than 10,000 charities across the country. In November, donations rose 20% over the same month last year.

"This year looks a little better, but not back to pre-recession levels yet," said Katya Andresen, Network for Good’s chief strategy officer.

But the best is yet to come. While one-third of all online giving for the year occurs in December, a whopping 22% happens in the last two days of the year, according to Network for Good’s online giving study. That end-of-year rush can mainly be attributed to donors looking for some last-minute tax savings.

"It’s traditional to think about charity in December and of course, it’s the end of the tax year," Andresen said.

Still, with less than 48 hours left in the calendar year, it’s unlikely this will be a substantially better year for charities after three years in a row of lackluster giving.

Largest donations of 2011

After sinking in 2008 and 2009, donations still lag far behind pre-recession levels. Total charitable contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations increased slightly in 2010 to $290.9 billion — but remained below 2007’s $310.6 billion, according to Giving USA, a foundation that tracks charitable contributions cash advance loans.

Although Geoffrey Brown, executive director of the organization, says it’s still too early to say how 2011 will fare in comparison to last year, "giving is probably going to be flat, if anything," he noted.

Stagnant wage growth, high unemployment, Europe’s debt crisis and uncertainty about the economy have weighed on donors, while the government has drawn down support substantially, explained Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy.

"This year was a little better than last year, but, of course, last year wasn’t so good," he said.

In a survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 54% of 152 organizations said they raised more money in November and during the first part of December than they had at the same time last year. Nearly 60% of charities predicted they would have an overall gain in donations in 2011, while 28% said donations would fall this year.

"This was a year in which there were certainly disasters both at home and abroad, but not at the scale that we have seen in the past," explained Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

"Even Japan giving was small, it was nothing like the crisis in Haiti," she said referring to the earthquake and tsunami that rocked the Asian nation in March. 

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Laclede Group Inc. said fiscal third-quarter profit more than tripled on improved performance at the company’s gas utility and the sale of propane inventories.

Net income for the three months ended June 30 rose to $15.4 million, or 65 cents a share, from $4.4 million, or 20 cents, in the same period last year, the St. Louis-based company said. Sales rose 6 percent to $344.3 million.

Earnings rose by $11.6 million at Laclede Gas, the utility that sells natural gas to 630,000 customers in St faxless payday advance. Louis and surrounding Missouri counties.

The utility said it benefited from a rate increase that took effect in September as well as the sale of propane inventories no longer needed to serve customers.

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The great tax holiday of 2011 for air travelers is just about over.

By Monday, most U.S. airlines had raised fares to reap the benefit of lower federal taxes on airline tickets. A few airlines that were passing the savings on to consumers changed their minds.

Several federal taxes on airline tickets expired over the weekend after Congress failed to pass legislation to keep the Federal Aviation Administration running at full speed.

Raising the fares allows the airlines to charge the consumer the same amount as before, while pocketing money previously collected for the government.

It could turn into a windfall for airlines if the stalemate in Congress drags on. The government estimates that the expiring taxes total $200 million a week. And with fuel prices much higher than last year, airlines can use the cash.

But some travel experts called the fare increases a public-relations mistake.

“One of the major airlines could have said, `Hey, at least for a week we’re going to give this money back to the consumers,’” said Rick Seaney, who tracks prices as CEO of FareCompare.com. “I’m surprised no one made promotional hay over this.”

Airlines collect various federal fees, including a 7.5 percent tax on all tickets that expired at midnight Friday night. Once the taxes expired, airlines began raising fares by an equal amount. On some tickets, the expired taxes can top 10 percent of the price.

A spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association, a trade group for major U.S. airlines, said consumers will benefit if the tax savings increase airline profits.

“This short-term additional revenue for airlines, which does not mean a fare increase for consumers, benefits all stakeholders _ customers, employees and investors _ by temporarily improving tiny industry margins to better cover costs and enable airlines to invest in their product and service,” the spokeswoman, Jean Medina, said in an email.

US Airways and American Airlines were the first to raise fares. They were joined quickly by United, Continental, Delta, Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue.

Virgin America, which at first bragged about passing the savings on to consumers, changed its mind by Monday. So did Frontier Airlines. Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines said Monday they had not raised fares.

George Hobica, founder of travel website airfarewatchdog.com, said stores don’t raise prices during tax holidays, and neither should airlines.

“It seems predatory,” he said. “I realize the airlines have to make money, but this is kind of a cheap shot. It’s tone-deaf.”

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A big earnings miss from Caterpillar wasn’t enough to derail a rally that pushed the stock market up 2 percent for the week.

Caterpillar fell almost 6 percent Friday after its second-quarter results came in below analysts’ expectations. Technology stocks rose broadly following strong earnings from the chip maker Advanced Micro Devices and Microsoft.

The Dow Jones industrial average is closing with a loss of 43 points, or 0 payday loans lenders.3 percent, to 12,681. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index is up 1, or 0.1 percent, to 1,345. The Nasdaq is up 24, or 0.9 percent, at 2,589. Each index finished the week higher.

Rising and falling shares were about even on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was lighter than average at 3.3 billion shares.

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