RIG COUNT UP, BUT DOWN 1 IN COLORADO

The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 14 this week to 553. Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 443 rigs sought oil and 108 explored for natural gas this week. Two were listed as miscellaneous.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained 10 rigs, Wyoming increased by three, New Mexico was up two and Alaska and Utah added one apiece.

Louisiana declined by two rigs and Colorado was off by one.

Arkansas, California, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were unchanged.

Tobacco merger valued at $47 billion. British American Tobacco

has offered to buy out Reynolds American Inc. for $47 billion in an attempt to gain a strong presence in the U.S., a lucrative market where sales of electronic cigarettes are booming as traditional smoking fades.

The takeover would create the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company and combine BAT’s presence in developing countries, where anti-smoking campaigns are not as strong as in the U.S. and Europe, with Reynolds’ almost exclusive focus on the U.S.

Japanese employees still work to death. Despite efforts over

the past two decades to cut back on overwork, “karoshi” or death from overwork, still causes hundreds of deaths and illnesses every year in Japan.

It affects all sorts of workers, from elite salaried employees to technicians and manual laborers. In Japan’s corporate world, company interests tend to come first and employees are ill-placed to resist pressure to take on too much work.

The Labor Standards Law sets a 40-hour workweek but a loophole for voluntary ceilings on overtime makes the law toothless, experts say.

McDonald’s sales up 1.3% in U.S. The launch of all-day breakfast

helped McDonald’s record higher sales at established U.S. locations for a fifth straight quarter. McDonald’s said sales rose 1.3 percent at established U.S. locations in the third quarter, matching what Wall Street analysts expected. That’s down from the 1.8 percent rise the world’s biggest burger chain reported in the previous quarter.

Worldwide, sales grew 3.5 percent at established locations, far exceeding the 1.3 percent growth analysts were expecting, according to FactSet.

Jim Beam strike ends with plan to grow. Jim Beam ended a nearly

weeklong strike at two bourbon distilleries in Kentucky on Friday, toasting a labor settlement that answers the workers’ key demand with a commitment to hire more full-time staff.

Union members picketing since last Saturday approved the company’s latest contract offer on a 204-19 vote and will resume producing whiskey Monday, said United Food and Commercial Workers union official Tommy Ballard. Denver Post wire reports