Economy

U.S. wages, benefits grew in third quarter

U.S. workers' wages and benefits grew faster in the third quarter, adding to recent signs that American workers are seeing their pay climb. The Labor Department said Tuesday that total compensation was up 0.7 percent from July through September after growing 0.5 percent in the second quarter.

Wages and salaries, which account for about 70 percent of compensation costs, rose 0.7 percent. Benefits, including pensions and health insurance, were up 0.8 percent.

International

Mexico's GDP shrinks amid uncertainties

Mexico announced Tuesday that its economy shrank 0.2 percent in the third quarter compared with the previous period amid uncertainty related to renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement and local slowdowns caused by natural disasters. Alfredo Coutino, Latin America director at Moody's Analytics, said the contraction came after Mexico posted GDP gains of 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent in the first two quarters and confirms an expected deceleration in the second half of 2017. The government's National Institute of Statistics and Geography reported the contraction and said that GDP for the third quarter was 1.7 percent higher than in the same period last year. Coutino forecast that Mexico's economy will grow about 1 percent in the fourth quarter and hit about 1.8 percent on the year, down from 2017 and short of target.

PHARMACEUTICAL

States seek to expand generic drug lawsuit

Connecticut's attorney general and 45 of his colleagues are seeking to expand a federal antitrust lawsuit against generic drugmakers to include more manufacturers and medications, as well as senior executives at two companies. Led by Connecticut, the states sought a federal court's permission Tuesday to widen their complaint, which alleges a number of illegal agreements among 18 manufacturers to fix prices and divvy up the market for specific generic drugs including treatments for high blood pressure, arthritis and asthma. Mylan N.V., one of the drugmakers named in the suit, said it has investigated the allegations thoroughly and "found no evidence of price fixing."

Automotive

Google-bred Waymo moves into next gear

Google's self-driving car spinoff is accelerating efforts to convince the public that its technology is almost ready to safely transport people without any human assistance at all. Waymo, hatched from a Google project started eight years ago, showed off its progress Monday during a rare peek at a closely guarded testing facility located 120 miles southeast of San Francisco. That's where its robots complete their equivalent of driver's education. The tour included giving more than three dozen reporters rides in Chrysler Pacifica minivans traveling through faux neighborhoods and expressways that Waymo has built on a former Air Force base located in the Californian Central Valley city of Atwater.

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