U.S. hiring picked up in November, while the unemployment rate tumbled to a nine-year low on a drop in the number of people in the workforce and wages unexpectedly declined, providing a mixed picture of the labor market.

China officially established a new national steelmaking leader - the world's second-largest manufacturer - this month by merging two giant mills, as Beijing pushes consolidation in the industry to combat overcapacity.

The U.S. economy expanded more than previously reported last quarter on a sunnier picture of household spending, the primary growth engine. Gross domestic product rose at a 3.2-percent annualized rate in the three months ended in September, the fastest in two years, compared with an initial estimate of 2.9 percent, Commerce Department figures showed last week. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 3-percent gain.

Middle East aluminum producers are boosting metal shipments to the U.S. to fill a supply gap left from plant closings. Since 1980, U.S. output has dropped from 4.6 million metric tons by 32 smelters to about 700,000 tons by five smelters this year, said Jorge Vazquez, managing director of Austin, Texas-based Harbor Intelligence. The last U.S. smelter to open was in 1985, he said.

Deep in the jungles of Colombia, thousands of small, illegal mining operations, many under the control of Marxist guerrillas or drug traffickers, are working long hours to pull gold out of the ground. Miners are digging in out-of-the-way places such as Timbiquí and Río Quito. From there, the gold is hauled by boat, truck or small airplanes to smelters in Cali and Medellin.

Apple has big plans to outfit its next iPhone with vibrant, energy-sipping organic LED displays, seeking to entice consumers with new technology that's already been embraced by other high-end smartphone makers. The trouble is that the four main suppliers for such components say they won't have enough production capacity to make screens for all new iPhones next year, with constraints continuing into 2018, presenting a potential challenge for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes has issued a 20-year outlook for global air-cargo traffic, calling for a consolidated annual growth rate of 4.2 percent in volume (evaluated in metric tonnage), and saying this increase will result in significant demand for new and converted cargo jets needed to meet market demand by 2035.