Business & Finance

Agilent Technologies said it will cut 4,000 jobs, or 9 percent of its global workforce. The move follows an April decision by the test- and measurement-equipment maker to cut employee pay by 10 percent. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Agilent said the layoffs, which will occur by the middle of next year, will affect mostly manufacturing workers and would save the company $500 million a year.

JP Morgan Chase, the No. 2 US banking group, will shed another 3,000 jobs, raising total layoffs to 8,000 since its megamerger late last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Cuts will occur in the next few months and affect bankers and support staff. The company reported a 77 percent drop in revenues - to $378 million - in the April-June quarter.

Ames Department Stores Inc., the fourth-largest US discount retailer, filed for protection from creditors for the second time in 11 years. The move Monday by the Rocky Hill, Conn., company came one week after it announced the closure of 47 stores and the layoffs of about 2,000 employees. The measures leave Ames with 405 stores, selling mostly to a blue-collar clientele, in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic states, and the Northeast.