Thursday Evening Business Brief

Stocks are closing higher on Wall Street for a fifth straight day, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average farther into record territory. The Dow, which surpassed its previous all-time high two days ago, closed up 33 points at 14,329. The S&P 500 rose nearly 3 points to 1,544. The S&P is now about 20 points away from its own record high close. The Nasdaq rose 9 points.

• A positive signal from the U.S. jobs market is pushing the price of oil higher. It rose today the most in two weeks. Natural gas rose 3 percent as supplies dropped more than expected. Benchmark crude for April delivery gained $1.13 to finish at $91.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas futures jumped 11 cents to $3.58 per 1,000 cubic feet.
• An investigation of a battery fire aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 shows mechanics and firefighters made repeated, unsuccessful attempts to put out the blaze through smoke so thick they couldn't see the battery. The documents released today by the National Transportation Safety Board paint a more dangerous picture of the Jan. 7 fire at Boston than previously portrayed.
• Insurance giant MetLife says it will move 2,600 jobs from offices in four Northeast states and California to lower-cost locations in North Carolina, while also getting tax breaks and other incentives that could reach $100 million. The New York-based insurer says the jobs will go to Charlotte, which will become the U.S. headquarters for MetLife's retail business, and to a global technology and operations hub in the Raleigh suburb of Cary.
• New York's famed Hotel Pennsylvania is safe from the wrecking ball, rescued by the economy rather than preservationists. Steven Roth, chairman of the Vornado Realty Trust, says plans to knock down the nearly century-old hotel, where jazz great Glenn Miller and his orchestra broadcast in the 1940s, and replace it with a 67-story office tower are "on the shelf."