Business news in brief

Sears Holdings Corp. announced Monday that it will no longer operate a retail store or auto center at the King of Prussia mall, owned by Simon Property Group. Sears said it entered into a lease agreement with Primark, a fashion retailer, which will open a store in more than 100,000 square feet on the lower level of the two-level Sears store in the King of Prussia Plaza. Dick's Sporting Goods took over the store's upper level and currently occupies about 75,000 square feet. Primark will join the sporting goods chain as a subtenant of Sears, which holds a long-term lease. Sears will begin a liquidation sale on Friday and close the location in early December. The 114 current employees, if eligible, will receive severance and can apply for open positions at area Sears or Kmart stores, the company said. - Linda Loyd

Amtrak put one of its Siemens-built "Amtrak Cities Sprinter" (ACS-64) electric locomotives into service for the first time Monday on a Philadelphia-Harrisburg Keystone Service train, Amtrak and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said. The high-tech locomotive, one of 70 that Amtrak is acquiring for its Northeast and Keystone Corridors, uses "regenerative braking" to feed energy back into the power system for use by other trains. About a dozen of the locomotives are now in service with Amtrak, and the rest are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2015. - Reid Kanaley

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the operating licenses of both units at the Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County for an additional 20 years. Exelon Generation Co. L.L.C. submitted the renewal applications in 2011. The new licenses will expire on Oct. 26, 2044, for Limerick's Unit 1 and on June 22, 2049, for Unit 2. The boiling-water reactors generate 2,311 megawatts, enough to power two million homes. The Limerick license extensions bring to 75 the number of commercial nuclear-power reactors with renewed licenses. Applications for an additional 17 renewals are under review. - Andrew Maykuth

American Airlines and merger partner US Airways said Monday they have combined their cargo divisions into a single entity that moves more than one billion pounds of freight and mail annually. Cargo is the first operations division to be consolidated since the merger in December of American and US Airways, Philadelphia's dominant airline. Passenger reservation systems, route networks, frequent-flier programs, and aircraft will be consolidated under the new American Airlines by the end of 2015. - Linda Loyd

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. says it has recovered 2,550 barrels of crude oil that spilled into a Louisiana bayou last week from its Mid-Valley Pipeline. The pipeline remains out of service indefinitely until repairs can be done. The Philadelphia company estimated last week that as much as 4,000 barrels - 168,000 gallons - spilled Oct. 13 from a break in the underground pipeline. The Mid-Valley system, which transports crude oil from Texas to Midwestern refineries, terminates near Detroit. Three families evacuated after the leak were allowed to return to their homes Sunday. Response crews have collected 139 dead animals, primarily fish, amphibians, reptiles, and crawfish, said Sunoco spokesman Jeffrey P. Shields. - Andrew Maykuth

A federal regulator says government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have reached an agreement with major banks that could expand home lending. The head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, announced the deal at a conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Las Vegas. FHFA Director Mel Watt said the deal clarifies conditions in which banks could be required to buy back mortgages they sell to Fannie and Freddie for misrepresenting the loans' risks. Watt said the agreement in principle is "a significant step forward" that will help make more mortgage credit available without harming Fannie and Freddie's finances. - AP

Shares of Apple Inc. climbed more than 1 percent, to $100.75 at 5 p.m. in New York, after the company projected revenue for the holiday quarter that exceeded the average analyst estimate. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company's fiscal fourth quarter results also beat projections, with net income rising to $1.42 a share, compared with the $1.30 a share predicted by analysts. Apple said new larger-screen iPhones will help boost sales by at least 10 percent during the October-December period, according to a statement. - Bloomberg News

Facebook Inc. is suing several law firms that represented a man who claimed he owned half of the social network and was entitled to billions of dollars from the company and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The case was dismissed in April and the man, Paul Ceglia, is facing related criminal charges. Facebook and Zuckerberg filed a lawsuit Monday against DLA Piper and other law firms and lawyers, saying they conspired to file and prosecute a fraudulent lawsuit. DLA Piper is one of the world's largest business law firms. - AP