Business news in brief

A U.S. House panel said credit rating agencies and federal regulators contributed to MF Global's collapse last year but pinned most of the blame on ex-CEO Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor. The report issued by Republicans found that Corzine's risky strategies caused MF Global's bankruptcy. It also said rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's failed to identify the biggest risk to MF Global: its $6.3 billion bet on European countries' debt. The report says the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission failed to share key information. - AP

Peco electricity customers will get a New Year's Day present. The utility's residential supply charge is set to decrease 17 percent, from 10.50 cents per kilowatt hour to 8.69 cents. The Philadelphia company this week filed new prices with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which requires utilities to adjust their commodity charges quarterly to reflect changes in the market price of electricity and correct any imbalances in collections from previous quarters. The decrease on Jan. 1 essentially reverts Peco's price to near levels it charged in the summer. The quarterly adjustment only pertains to the generation charge and won't affect the 31 percent of Peco customers who have switched to competing suppliers. - Andrew Maykuth

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia´s general economic index decreased to minus-10.7 in November from 5.7 a month earlier. A reading of zero is the dividing line between expansion and contraction in the area covering eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware. Economists forecast the gauge would decline to 2, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg survey. Estimates ranged from minus-10 to 8. - Bloomberg News

Timothy McGee of Philadelphia was convicted of one count of securities fraud and one count of perjury in a case of insider trading involving the 2008 sale of Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. to Tokio Marine Holdings for $4.4 billion. McGee learned of the pending acquisition of the Bala Cynwyd insurer from a Philadelphia Consolidated executive McGee knew through Alcoholics Anonymous and made $292,000 from illegal trades, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia said. Sentencing is Feb. 13. McGee, 48, faces up to 25 years in jail. - Harold Brubaker

With Palestinian militants barraging Israel with rockets and Israel preparing to launch a ground invasion into Gaza if necessary, US Airways Group Inc. has issued a travel advisory for Tel Aviv. Philadelphia's largest airline said passengers ticketed for travel to Tel Aviv from Friday through Monday can change their flight to travel instead from Saturday through Nov. 26 without a $150-per-ticket change fee. - Linda Loyd

Fearing the imminent liquidation of Hostess Brands Inc. and the loss of 7,500 jobs, the Teamsters union urged the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union to hold a secret ballot on whether to end a nationwide strike that started last Friday over pay and benefits cuts approved by a bankruptcy judge last month. Hostess said Wednesday that it would file a motion for liquidation Friday morning if it could not restart operations by 5 p.m. Thursday. There was no update late Thursday. About 330 of the Bakery union's 6,600 Hostess members work at Hostess' Northeast Philadelphia plant. - Harold Brubaker

Bottom Dollar Food opened a supermarket in Philadelphia's Brewerytown neighborhood, filling a void that had rendered the community a "food desert" for some 15 years. The store, built partly with municipal subsidies, opened at 8 a.m. at 31st Street and Girard Avenue after a ceremony that featured the chain's president, Meg Ham, and local officials. The 18,000-square-foot store is the latest to debut across Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Bottom Dollar's inaugural markets. Ham said the grocer planned to move forward next with a store at Washington Lane and Chew Avenue in the Germantown section. - Maria Panaritis

Frontier Airlines will add four nonstop destinations in late January and early February from Trenton-Mercer Airport to Florida and Louisiana. The Denver-based carrier will begin flights, ranging from $69 to $89 each way, to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Tampa, and New Orleans. The introductory fares are available through Nov. 29. Frontier is the only commercial carrier at the Trenton airport. The flights begin Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 and 2. - Linda Loyd

Business software provider Astea International Inc., of Horsham, saw its shares fall 28 percent after reporting a net loss for its third quarter. The company said its net loss after paying a preferred dividend was $1.3 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with net income of $174,000, or 4 cents per share, for the same period ended Sept. 30, 2011. Quarterly revenues declined 20 percent to $5.3 million. Astea closed at $3.00, down $1.15. - Mike Armstrong

Fox Rothschild, a Center City law firm, said it had formed an entertainment law department and intends to become one of the nation's top-tier firms for filmmakers, artists, publishers and others in the industry. Darrell Miller, a longtime entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, whose clients include the actress Angela Bassett and the actor-rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, will head the new department, said Fox's managing partner, Mark Silow. - Chris Mondics

The law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath L.L.P. said Tom McGonigle, chief of staff to Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, would join its Wilmington office on Dec. 10. McGonigle, a former partner at Blank Rome, will serve as head of the Wilmington office and as outside general counsel to a number of the firm's clients. - Chris Mondics

The Obama administration said it was giving states four more weeks to notify the Department of Health and Human Services whether they will operate a state-based health insurance exchange when key elements of the Affordable Care Act take effect next year and in 2014. Declarations and blueprints for the state-run exchanges, which are to begin marketing insurance next October, were originally due Friday. In response to governors' requests for more time and information, the department extended the deadline for the exchange blueprints until Dec. 14. Now, both the declaration letters and the blueprints are due Dec. 14. - Harold Brubaker

The Federal Reserve said the nation's biggest banks will be tested next year on their ability to survive not only a severe U.S. recession but also a global downturn. The latest round of "stress tests" will look at how the banks would handle recessions in Europe and Japan and severe slowdowns in other Asian countries, including China. The nation's 19 biggest banks must submit reports on how they would fare under various scenarios. The central bank will release the results by late March. The Fed has conducted stress tests of the banks every year since 2009. - AP