Virginia’s job market improved last month as the number of Virginians out of work declined. The Virginia Employment Commission also noted weekly declines in the number of laid-off people making their first claims for unemployment benefits compared with last year. The declines during several weeks of October were the first such drops in more than a year, VEC chief economist William F. Mezger said yesterday.

Housing Virginia, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to affordable housing, and the Virginia Association of Realtors will produce a quarterly housing-affordability index for the state beginning in January. The index will be a broad measure of housing affordability that compares housing and rental costs with household incomes. “Basically what we’re looking at is presenting the percentage of a typical Virginia household’s income necessary to afford the typical home in Virginia,“ said R. Scott Brunner, chief executive officer of the Virginia Association of Realtors.

Stocks fall a third day as dollar strengthens NEW YORK Investors can’t shake their fears that the economy isn’t keeping up with the stock market. Stocks fell for a third straight day yesterday as a disappointing outlook from computer maker Dell Inc. suggested that an economic recovery could be uneven. The major indexes all had moderate losses, leaving the Dow Jones industrials with a slim 0.5 percent weekly gain while broader indexes slid.

The CEO of the appliance and consumer-electronics retailer believes the chain can make headway in an already competitive market.

Virginians are taking home less pay, spending less in stores and still are getting hit on their investments, new state tax-collection statistics show.

Richmond Times-Dispatch President and Publisher Thomas A. Silvestri has been elected chairman of the American Press Institute. The institute, based in Reston, is a nonprofit, independent education center that provides training and leadership development in the news industry. It offers seminars, workshops and custom programs for newspaper professionals and organizations.

Genworth Financial Inc.‘s latest survey of consumers’ vulnerability found Americans are doing well, considering. Despite the recession, Americans are much less financially at risk than Europeans, the Henrico County-based insurance giant’s latest review shows. “Given the harsh economic climate in the USA of recent months, it is perhaps surprising,“ the review commented.

Struggling Internet company AOL plans to shed up to 2,500 jobs—more than a third of its work force—as it prepares to separate from Time Warner and finally sever their ill-fated marriage. Major job cuts had been expected and seemed certain after Time Warner said last week that AOL would take $200 million in charges for severance and other restructuring-related costs. But the magnitude was not known until yesterday.

Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, will cut 250 jobs at a plant in Hampton because of falling parts orders for industrial gas turbines. The reductions represent about 24 percent of the 1,060 workers employed at the Alcoa Howmet plant, which is part of the company’s power and propulsion division, spokeswoman Jean Moorman said.

The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on residential properties in Virginia stood at 7.7 percent at the end of the third quarter, up from 6.9 percent in the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Nationally, the delinquency rate for mortgage loans was 9.94 percent, up from 8.86 percent in the second quarter.

Stocks tumble on signs of subdued recovery NEW YORK Signs of a subdued economic recovery sent investors out of stocks yesterday and in search of safer assets like the dollar. Major indexes tumbled about 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost 94 points but ended well off its low. Energy and material stocks logged some of the biggest losses as a jump in the dollar sent commodity prices tumbling. Meanwhile, an analyst’s downgrade of the chip industry pulled technology shares lower.

The end is near for LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens approved the Henrico County-based title insurer’s plan yesterday to dissolve itself, pay creditors and set up trust committees to wind down the estate. “Not everyone is happy but this is the happiest plan we could have,“ Huennekens said after a daylong hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond.

Tech, housing numbers cited as stocks drop NEW YORK Disappointing forecasts from technology companies and an unexpected drop in home construction added to worries about the economy and sent stocks modestly lower. The drop yesterday came a day after major stock indicators closed at 13-month highs. The Dow fell 11.11, or 0.1 percent, to 10,426.31, after sliding as much as 77 points in morning trading.

Virginia’s agricultural exports to Cuba are expected to be up by more than 10 percent this year, even as overall U.S. food exports to the communist country decline, state officials said.

Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity has created the first community land trust in Virginia, which the nonprofit hails as a landmark moment in the history of affordable housing in the state. The local chapter has placed a parcel of land for 19 homes off Springs Road in South Richmond into the trust. In a community land trust, a buyer purchases only the house—not the land—keeping costs down.