Business news digest

NATION

Caterpillar downsizes contract workers

PEORIA, Ill. — Caterpillar Inc. has started cutting ties with some contract workers as the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment tries to lower costs amid the global economic slowdown. The company said Friday it notified agencies that employ the workers in Peoria, Ill., where Caterpillar is based, and the surrounding area, but declined to specify how many workers would be affected.

Hartford Financial shares more than double

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Shares of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. more than doubled Friday as investors cheered the insurer’s better-than-expected 2008 forecast and assertion that its balance sheet is sound enough to handle continued market declines.

Hartford shares soared $7.38 to close at $14.59, trading as high as $16.08 during the session. That’s more than double Thursday’s closing price of $7.21 but still well below the 52-week high of $98.07 that the stock reached a year ago. The stock traded around $70 a share as recently as mid-September, but had fallen to around $7 in recent days.

Associated Press