Business briefs

Market resumes rally; Dow nears 12,000

The Dow Jones industrial average closed within 20 points of 12,000 Monday, its highest point since June 2008. Technology stocks rose after Intel Corp. increased its dividend and said it would buy back more of its stock. The Dow gained 108.68 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 11,980.52. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.49, or 0.6 percent, to 1,290.84. The Nasdaq composite gained 28.01, to 2,717.55. Gains were spread across the market.

Survey indicates economists see more hiring on the way

A new survey from the National Association for Business Economics finds that economists are more hopeful about overall economic growth, the job market and demand for companies' products and services by many measures than they have been since the start of the Great Recession. The number of economists who saw hiring by their firms increasing over the next six months was 42 percent, compared with 7 percent who expected to lay off workers, the highest percentage difference in the 12 years that the question has been asked.

Google grants $100M in equity to outgoing CEO Schmidt

Google Inc. has awarded $100 million worth of equity to Eric Schmidt, who is stepping aside as chief executive but will stay on as executive chairman. Google said in a regulatory filing Monday that the stock and stock options will be granted on Feb. 2 and will vest over four years. Schmidt, 55, is being replaced by Google co-founder Larry Page, 37.

High court expands companies' exposure to retaliation suits

The Supreme Court says companies can't fire people simply because they are in a relationship with other employees who complain of discrimination. The high court ruled Monday in favor of Eric Thompson, who was fired in 2003 from a stainless steel manufacturing plant in Kentucky a month after his fiancee, who also worked there, filed a discrimination complaint.

From wire reports