NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Filings for unemployment claims dipped last week, after striking Verizon employees went back to work.

The number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits fell to 409,000 in the week ending Aug. 27, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s down 12,000 from a revised 421,000 the prior week.

Economists were predicting initial claims would fall to 407,000 during the week, according to Briefing.com.

Unemployment claims from striking Verizon workers had pushed the figure up substantially for two weeks in a row. In most states, striking workers aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits, but that doesn’t necessarily stop them from applying anyway.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The price of U.S. oil has dropped nearly 25% since hitting its highs this spring, yet gasoline is down just 10%. So a big drop should be coming, right?

Sorta. Drivers can expect a bit of relief at the pump over the next few months, but they shouldn’t look for too big a discount.

Many Americans have become conditioned to expect a sharp drop in gasoline prices in the fall as Labor Day, the traditional end to the summer driving season, approaches and as the nation shifts to less expensive “winter gas.” Because cooler air is less conducive to smog formation, “winter gas” doesn’t need to be refined as much.

DALLAS – Alaska Airlines and its Horizon Air affiliate canceled 95 flights Saturday because a computer system used for flight planning failed.

The outage lasted intermittently for about seven hours and resulted in the two airlines scrapping about 12 percent of their combined schedule before technicians fixed the system, which returned at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Company spokesman Paul McElroy said many other flights were delayed, and customers had trouble getting flight-status updates on the airlines’ website because of the outage.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Getting a degree used to be a stepping stone to limitless career opportunities. Now it’s more of a hiatus from living under your parents’ roof.

Stubbornly high unemployment — nearly 15% for those ages 20-24 — has made finding a job nearly impossible. And without a job, there’s nowhere for these young adults to go but back to their old bedrooms, curfews and chore charts. Meet the boomerangers.

WASHINGTON — The government is looking into allegations that mortgage lenders in the foreclosure crisis have been evicting homeowners using flawed court papers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama’s financial fraud enforcement task force has a mortgage component to it, Holder noted during a news conference.

In a letter Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and dozens of Democratic lawmakers urged bank regulators and the Justice Department to probe whether mortgage companies violated any laws in handling foreclosures and borrowers’ requests for loan assistance.

In Ohio, state Attorney General Richard Cordray is suing Ally Financial Inc. and its GMAC Mortgage division, alleging fraud that could involve hundreds of foreclosures in the state.

BERLIN — BMW’s recall of nearly 200,000 luxury vehicles in the U.S. to fix leaks that could develop in the power braking system may extend to another 150,000 cars of the same series around the globe, a spokesman said Friday.

Globally, some 345,000 BMWs of the 5 Series, 6 Series and 7 Series vehicles powered by V8 and V12 engines and almost 6,000 Rolls Royce Phantom models could be affected by the problem, BMW AG spokesman Frank Strebe said.

He stressed there have been no reports of accidents or injuries.

FORTUNE — It’s not yet clear what Burger King’s new owner, the Brazilian-backed private equity firm 3G Capital, has in mind for the troubled No. 2 fast-food chain. But a total strategic revamp is in order.

Burger King (BKC), which went public four years ago after its previous private equity owners cashed out, has limped its way through the recession, losing sales and market share even as its far-better-managed rival, McDonald’s (MCD, Fortune 500), has thrived. Thriving is what fast-food purveyors are supposed to do during a recession, when diners tend to trade down. But Burger King has stubbornly stuck to a losing strategy, falling further behind with each passing quarter. The result: A loss in share value over the two years up until Tuesday — just before rumors of the buyout started to float — of 36%. McDonald’s shares over the same period rose 14%.

Can you trust J&J for drugs anymore.  Why do the companies not keep up with the cleaning. Is it money like every thing else, or do the just don’t care anymore.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Johnson & Johnson, already under fire from the government over deplorable conditions at a Pennsylvania plant that makes children’s pain and cold drugs, is now being cited for problems at another one of its drugmaking plants in the state.

A plant located in Lancaster, Pa., was recently inspected by the Food and Drug Administration and failed to receive a clean bill of health, according to the company.

WASHINGTON — Buy those Forever stamps now. The cost of mailing a letter is going up again.

Fighting to survive a deepening financial crisis, the Postal Service said Tuesday it wants to increase the price of first-class stamps by 2 cents — to 46 cents — starting in January. Other postage costs would rise as well.

The agency’s persisting problem: ever-declining mail volume as people and businesses shift to the Internet and the declining economy reduces advertising mail.

“The Postal Service faces a serious risk of financial insolvency,” postal vice president Stephen M. Kearney said, an indication that without significant changes a time could come when the agency would be unable to pay its bills.

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday about 270,000 cars sold worldwide — including luxury Lexus sedans — have potentially faulty engines, the latest quality lapse to hit the automaker following massive global recalls of top-selling models.

Japan’s top-selling daily Yomiuri said in its evening edition that Toyota will inform the transport ministry of a recall on Monday. The paper cited no sources.

Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said the company was evaluating measures to deal with the problem of defective engines that can stall while the vehicle is moving. He would not confirm a recall was being considered.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — BP knew of problems with an offshore well hours before it exploded last month, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, a House committee chairman said Wednesday.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the oil company told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight privately that the well failed a key pressure test just hours before it exploded on April 20.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Failings by Lehman Brothers executives and its auditor led to the bank collapse that unleashed the worst of the financial crisis, according to a report by a court-appointed investigator.

Lehman “repeatedly exceeded its own internal risk limits and controls,” and a wide range of bad calls by its management led to the bank’s failure, says the report, authored by examiner Anton Valukas.