News In Brief

Job creation slowed in May, and the US unemployment rate fell back to a 29-year low, the Labor Department reported.

The number of workers on payrolls outside the farm sector grew a minuscule 11,000. That followed a surge of 343,000 in April, revised up from a previously reported 234,000. The jobless rate fell to 4.2 percent, matching the rate recently recorded for March but not seen before that since February 1970. It was 4.3 percent in April.

A partnership with IBM that could result in almost $8 billion in new business is to be announced today by Acer Inc., a leading Asian computer manufacturer, a published report in Taiwan said. The Economic Daily News said Acer, which has had previous alliances with US high-tech companies, would become the sole maker of IBM computers and computer parts for the Asian market. The two also would develop new products jointly and share licensing rights on certain technologies, the newspaper reported.