BUSINESS NEWS DIGEST | Budget deficit down to $80B in Dec.

Budget deficit down to $80B in Dec.

WASHINGTON

The federal budget deficit narrowed slightly in December compared with a year ago, but the deficit for the entire year is still on pace to exceed $1 trillion.

The government ran a deficit of $80 billion last month, down 12.4 percent from the previous December, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. Through the first three months of the current budget year, the deficit totals $370.8 billion, an improvement of 3.1 percent from the same period a year ago.

Archie Comics to go digital

PHILADELPHIA

The company behind Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica is expanding its reach by making its comic-book titles available for digital download the same day their printed counterparts go on sale.

Archie Comics said Wednesday that starting in April, several of its titles featuring the gang from Riverdale will be released simultaneously in print and digital versions, including “Archie & Friends,” “Jughead” and “Betty & Veronica.”

That decision makes the privately held Archie Comics Publications Inc. one of the first major comic-book publishers to do that and reflects what co-chief executive Jon Goldwater called the goal of making Archie stories available to everyone everywhere.

ITT to split into three companies

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.

ITT Corp., a company that began making telephone equipment in 1920 and grew into a massive conglomerate, said Wednesday it will split itself into three publicly traded companies.

The White Plains, N.Y., company that makes products ranging from brake pads to night-vision goggles said the breakup would create an industrial-products business, another focused on defense and information solutions and a third company making water technology products. ITT stock jumped 16 percent to $61.50 on the news.

Associated Press