NEW YORK (AP) -- Health insurer WellPoint Inc. said Friday it will cut about 1,500 jobs to reduce costs as it copes with the U.S. recession.

The Indianapolis-based insurer will eliminate about 3.5 percent of its staff, which currently totals more than 42,000. More than 900 open positions and 600 associate jobs are being eliminated.

Rising unemployment is affecting health insurers because their employer customers have fewer workers to cover.

WellPoint did not estimate how much it will save from the job cuts but said it will take a one-time charge of $24 million in the fourth quarter.

WellPoint says its Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D compliance staff are not affected by the move. The Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services on Monday barred the company from enrolling new patients in both those programs because of growing complaints that members were not receiving prescription drugs.

WellPoint is the largest U.S. health insurer based on membership. It runs Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states.

Other health insurers also have been cutting jobs. Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp. said earlier this month it

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- A weakening U.S. economy and falling global demand kept benchmark oil prices near $35 a barrel Friday -- about 30 percent off last week's highs.

The softness of the crude market was underscored by an International Energy Agency report predicting that demand will fall for the second straight year in 2009 -- the first two-year decline in 26 years.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery was down 17 cents at $35.23 a barrel by afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.88 overnight to settle at $35.40, after trading as low as $33.20, a five-year low.

Nymex oil prices have fallen about 30 percent since touching $50.47 a barrel last week as dismal economic and corporate results stoked investor fears that a drop-off in crude demand may be worse than expected.

Concerns center on the U.S., the world's largest consumer of oil, where falling consumer demand and rising unemployment are undermining demand for crude -- and spilling over to the rest of the world.

In its highly watched monthly survey Friday, the International Energy Agency predicted that the worsening global economy will leave demand at 85.3 million barrels a day -- 0.6 percent lower than 2008. Demand last year is estimated to have slid 0.3 percent.

The IEA said it lowered its forecast because it has nearly halved its estimate for global economic growth to

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Escalating credit costs forced Bank of America Corp. to report a $2.39 billion fourth-quarter loss, hours after it convinced the federal government it needed a multibillion-dollar lifeline to survive the absorption of Merrill Lynch's hefty losses.

Bank of America also attributed the loss to write-downs and trading losses in the company's capital markets business, but said most of its core business units remained in the black. Both retail and wealth management segments posted profit and the bank saw narrower losses in its investment bank during the quarter. The results don't reflect the $15.31 billion loss Merrill Lynch suffered.

After a marathon negotiating session, the Bush administration agreed early Friday to give Bank of America an additional $20 billion worth of fresh capital to help it stomach the losses at Merrill Lynch, which the company acquired Jan. 1. The funds are in addition to $25 billion in TARP rescue funds Bank of America has already received.

The new infusion means Bank of America has now taken $45 billion of government aid, the same amount as Citigroup Inc. In connection with the package, Bank of America slashed its quarterly dividend to a mere penny from 32 cents, agreed to further limit executive pay and and work more intensively to modify the mortgages of distressed homeowners.

The government's agreement with Bank of America mentions "enhanced executive compensation