Business news in brief

In the Region

Vanguard changes its fee structure

Vanguard Group, Malvern, said it was expanding access to its lowest-cost mutual fund share class for individual investors, which will bring fee reductions to nearly 2 million clients of the company. Vanguard is reducing the minimum investment amount to qualify for its Admiral share class, which charges lower investment expenses than its Investor mutual fund shares. The biggest cuts affect index funds, on which the minimum investment was cut to $10,000 from $100,000. - AP

Lockheed gets Minuteman contract

Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., won a $106 million contract to engineer and make reentry equipment for the Air Force's Minuteman III system. The 58-month contract was given to Lockheed by Northrop Grumman Corp. A Lockheed spokeswoman said most of the work would be done at the company's King of Prussia site. Northrop Grumman has the main Air Force contract for the intercontinental ballistic missile system, but Lockheed has been the principal designer and manufacturer of the Minuteman reentry systems since the 1960s. - Roslyn Rudolph

J&J to buy Dutch vaccine-maker

Johnson & Johnson said it was buying Holland's Crucell NV for $2.41 billion, marking the American health-care giant's latest effort to gain a foothold in the coveted vaccine business. Johnson & Johnson bought a 17.9 percent stake in the Dutch biotechnology company in 2009, saying it would help J&J boost its focus on preventive medicine and infectious diseases. The current offer is for the remaining shares. J&J, New Brunswick, N.J., has large operations in the Philadelphia area. - AP

Penn picks construction manager

Turner Construction Co., New York, said it has been selected to provide construction-management services for the University of Pennsylvania's planned Penn Park development in West Philadelphia. The $30 million project is to be a recreation space for Penn students and local residents and is to include two artificial turf fields, a natural turf field, a volleyball court, and 12 tennis courts. - Paul Schweizer

Aramark strikes out at Camden Yards

Aramark Corp., Philadelphia, lost a contract it had since 1992 to run the concession stands at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles. Aramark spokesman David Freireich would not disclose the reason the Orioles gave for deciding against renewing the company's contract for the 2011 baseball season. Aramark had 600 employees working at the ballpark. Many are expected to be picked up by whatever food-service company the Orioles select to succeed Aramark. A spokesman for the ball club would not disclose the reason for the change. - Diane Mastrull

A.C. casinos increase job cuts

Atlantic City casinos slashed nearly 1,400 jobs in September, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission said. While layoffs of seasonal employees are common after Labor Day, the number this year was higher than the last two seasons, reflecting continued weakness in casinos' revenue picture. The cuts reduced the casinos' workforce to about 36,000. - AP

4G cell service coming to Phila.

Verizon Wireless will launch its fastest wireless network in 38 markets, including Philadelphia, by the end of the year to lure more users for data services. The so-called fourth-generation network, which uses a technology called LTE and is 10 times faster than Verizon's existing 3G service, will cover two-thirds of the country in the next 18 months, Verizon Communications Inc. said at an industry conference in San Francisco. - Bloomberg News

Elsewhere

Employers cut jobs in September

U.S. companies unexpectedly cut jobs in September, data from a report by ADP Employer Services showed. Employment decreased 39,000, the biggest drop since January. The median estimate of 37 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a gain of 20,000. A loss of jobs raises the risk that consumer spending, the largest part of the economy, will retrench and halt the recovery. The government will report its official jobs data for September on Friday. - Bloomberg News

3 airlines expand their alliance

American Airlines, British Airways, and Spain's Iberia announced new routes and promised passengers better prices and flight flexibility as they launched an $8 billion transatlantic joint business. The trio is strengthening its Oneworld alliance ties - but stopping short of a full financial merger because of U.S. laws barring foreign-airline ownership. They added four routes and codeshares on more than 2,600 additional flights. - AP

Kohl's to boost holiday hiring

Kohl's Corp. said it was increasing its holiday hiring this year 21 percent, another big retailer planning to boost its employee count. The Wisconsin-based chain of department stores said it expected to hire 40,000 people, or an average of 35 employees at each of its 1,089 stores nationwide. For the 2009 holiday season, Kohl's hired 33,000 extra workers. It attributed the increase this year to an expected increase in sales. There are 15 Kohl's stores in the Philadelphia area. - AP

GE to buy oil-field-equipment maker

General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn., has agreed to buy Dresser Inc., Addison, Texas, for about $3 billion, GE's latest deal to expand its product offerings in gas and other energy markets. Dresser's products include technology for gas engines, control and relief valves, measurement, regulation and control systems for gas and fuel distribution. - AP

Greece's federal workers to strike

Greek civil servants will walk off the job Thursday in a 24-hour strike expected to affect all state services, including schools and hospitals, in protest against government austerity measures. - AP

Money fund rates unchanged again

The average seven-day yield on taxable money market funds was 0.04 percent this week, unchanged from last week, according to iMoneyNet Inc. A seven-day yield is an annual yield that is based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average yield on tax-free funds was 0.04 percent this week, also unchanged from last week. - Paul Schweizer