Business briefs

U.S. gas prices
dip below $2
HOUSTON • Only four months after peaking at an unheard of $4.11 a gallon, the national average price for gasoline tumbled below $2 Friday, its lowest point in more than three years.
Crude has been in free fall, shedding two-thirds of its value since July, and gasoline prices have followed. Some say oil could be headed below $40 a barrel, and gasoline below $1.50.

Citigroup shares fall below $4
NEW YORK • Pressure intensified on Citigroup to sell part or all of itself as its stock fell below $4 a share on Friday and fears escalated about future loan losses. CEO Vikram Pandit told managers he opposes breaking up the company.

Delta to trim future capacity
ATLANTA • Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest carrier, said in a regulatory filing Friday that it plans to reduce future domestic and international capacity because demand for seats has slowed amid the global financial crisis.
Spokeswoman Betsy Talton said Delta still plans to add starting next spring the 15 international routes it announced Nov. 12.

Regulators shut failed Georgia bank
WASHINGTON • Georgia regulators have shut down The Community Bank, the 20th failure this year of a federally insured institution.
The bank had $681 million in assets and $611.4 million in deposits as of Oct. 17.
The FDIC says the bank's deposits and about $84.4 million of its assets will be acquired by Bank of Essex, of Tappahannock, Va. Its four branches will reopen Monday as offices of Bank of Essex.

Boeing warns of possible layoffs
Boeing Co. may lay off workers next year as part of an effort to cut costs in response to difficult market conditions and a slowing global economy, a company executive said.
In an internal memo sent to employees Thursday, Rick Stephens, senior vice president of human resources, was quoted as saying the aerospace company expects its number of employees to decline in 2009 after several years of growth.

Kosher meatpacker in Iowa indicted
DES MOINES, Iowa • A federal grand jury has issued a 12-count indictment alleging that managers were intricately involved in efforts to employ illegal workers at a kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of one of the nation's largest immigration raids.
The indictment includes three new defendants.
The Agriprocessors plant in Postville sought bankruptcy protection this month and has been forced to halt production.
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