Business Briefs – January 12, 2017

Pay Gap Between College Grads And Everyone Else at a Record

WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans with no more than a high school diploma have fallen so far behind college graduates in their economic lives that the earnings gap between college grads and everyone else has reached its widest point on record.

The growing disparity has become a source of frustration for millions of Americans worried that they — and their children — are losing economic ground.

College graduates, on average, earned 56 percent more than high school grads in 2015, according to data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute. That was up from 51 percent in 1999 and is the largest such gap in EPI’s figures dating to 1973.

OPEC Chief ‘Confident’ Countries To Meet Oil Production Cuts

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The head of OPEC said on Thursday that he remains “confident” that the cartel and outside members will stick to an agreement to cut production to help boost oil prices.

The comments by OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo of Nigeria come as the cartel and nonmembers try to stick to the landmark deal after oil prices collapsed last year.

OPEC agreed in late November to cut its production by 1.2 million barrels a day, the first reduction agreed to by the cartel since 2008. Nearly a dozen other countries pledged in December to cut an additional 558,000 barrels a day.

Delta Posts Better-Than Expected 4Q Revenue

ATLANTA (AP) – Delta reported better-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter, while its adjusted profit met Wall Street’s view. The airline benefited from lower fuel costs.

For the three months through December, Delta earned $622 million, or 84 cents per share. A year earlier the Atlanta-based company earned $980 million, or $1.25 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains, were 82 cents per share.

Revenue slipped to $9.46 billion from $9.5 billion, but beat the $9.35 billion that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research anticipated.

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