Business news in brief

Sunoco Inc., the oil company whose headquarters have been located in Philadelphia for more than a century, will hold its final shareholders meeting on Oct. 4 in . . . Michigan. In a proxy statement mailed to shareholders on Wednesday, Sunoco has scheduled a meeting at the Detroit Athletic Club to vote on its proposed acquisition by Energy Transfer Partners L.P., a pipeline company based in Dallas. After the $5.3 billion merger, Sunoco's retail business and its pipeline business will remain headquartered in the Philadelphia area, reporting to ETP's head office in Texas. - Andrew Maykuth

The unemployment rate in the Greater Philadelphia area rose in July, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday. July's rate was higher than it was in June and also higher than it was in July 2011. The July unemployment rate for the whole metropolitan area, which includes Philadelphia, its Pennsylvania and New Jersey suburbs and parts of Delaware and Maryland, was 9.2 percent, up from 9.1 percent in July 2011 and 8.9 percent in June. The rate for Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs rose to 8.9 percent, up from 8.8 percent a year ago, up from 8.5 percent in June. The rate for Camden, Burlington and Gloucester Counties rose to 10.7 percent in July, up from 10.6 percent in July 2011 and 10.6 percent in June. - Jane M. Von Bergen

The Federal Reserve said economic activity continued to expand gradually in July and early August across most of the United States. For the Philadelphia region, the Fed's so-called Beige Book said manufacturing activity was continuing a slow decline. Retail sales have grown somewhat faster than was the case at the time of the last Beige Book, in mid-July, while auto sales continued to increase. Philadelphia-area banks continued to increase lending, the Fed said. And demand for new homes grew at a slightly faster pace than during the previous Beige Book period. Real estate brokers reported steady growth in sales of existing homes and are optimistic about the next few months, the Fed said. Meanwhile, the economic outlook in the region has become "slightly less optimistic," the report said, "as contacts expressed uncertainty about the presidential election and the fiscal policy decisions to follow." Retailers, auto dealers and service-sector firms "are increasingly cautious due to customers' rising uncertainty." - Inquirer staff

InterDigital Inc. chief executive Bill Merritt said Apple Inc.'s legal victory over Samsung Electronics Co. demonstrated the value of patents, helping spur demand for his company's own intellectual property. Samsung on Friday was ordered to pay Apple about $1 billion for infringing intellectual property - a verdict that validated businesses that rely on innovation, Merritt said. InterDigital, a King of Prussia developer of wireless technology, has been trying to sell batches of its patents after abandoning a plan to sell the whole company last year. The company already agreed to sell about 1,700 patents, about 8 percent of its portfolio, to Intel Corp. for $375 million in June. - Bloomberg News

US Airways Group Inc., the largest carrier at Philadelphia International Airport, suspended merger talks with labor groups at takeover target American Airlines after a request from the bankrupt carrier, the union for US Airways pilots said. American, or AMR, is resisting a merger. "US Airways has, in fact, been asked by AMR as a sign of good faith to cease union negotiations," the US Airline Pilots Association said. "US Airways has agreed to honor that request." A pause in talks would still leave US Airways CEO Doug Parker with a prize that has eluded American: agreements with all of American's major unions. - Bloomberg News

A union representing more than 1,000 longshoremen at the Port of New York and New Jersey has authorized a strike if labor talks don't yield a deal in the next month. A spokesman for Local 1804-1 of the International Longshoremen's Association said the vote was entered late Tuesday. Talks between the longshoremen's union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance broke off last week, and no new talks were scheduled as of Wednesday afternoon. The union contract will expire at the end of September. National retail experts say some retailers are already rerouting cargo to the West Coast to prepare for a possible strike up and down the East Coast. Key issues in the dispute include overtime rules and royalty payments paid to union workers. - AP

Electronic book buyers across the U.S. will share a $69 million antitrust settlement agreed to by Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C. and Simon & Schuster Inc. over allegations of price fixing for e-books, attorneys general for several states announced. Consumers will receive notifications about refunds in coming months. The publishers will have to allow online retailers to competitively price e-books in the future. A case against two other publishers, Macmillan and Penguin, is still pending. - AP

Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $590 million to settle legal claims by shareholders that executives misled them about the bank's growing problems before the financial crisis. The bank denied the allegations, but said it agreed to the deal to eliminate the cost and uncertainty of litigation. Plaintiffs said Citigroup executives kept mum between February 2007 and April 2008 about huge losses the bank faced on complex mortgage investments. When the problem was disclosed, they said, Citigroup's share price plunged. The case, filed in late 2007, was one of the first major lawsuits related to toxic investments that fueled the financial crisis. It's also among the biggest proposed crisis-related settlements. - AP

The average seven-day yield on taxable money-market funds was 0.02 percent this week, unchanged from last week, according to iMoneyNet Inc. A seven-day yield is an annual yield that is based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average yield on tax-free funds was 0.01 percent this week, also unchanged from last week. - Inquirer staff