Business news in brief

The SEPTA board Thursday approved a new labor contract for Regional Rail conductors and assistant conductors, effective Sunday. The railroad workers, members of United Transportation Union Local 61, ratified the pact earlier this month after rejecting a similar deal in April. The union represents 363 conductors and assistant conductors. The five-year contract provides for an immediate 8.5 percent pay increase over the wages of October 2009, the end-date of the current contract, and a 3.5 percent increase in September 2014. The current starting-wage rate for a conductor is $20.98 an hour; the top rate is $26.75. The pact follows the pattern established by the contract negotiated in 2009 with the largest union of SEPTA workers, Transport Workers Union Local 234. - Paul Nussbaum

Twenty-six officials from chambers of commerce and business groups across the country sent a letter Thursday asking U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the Justice Department to drop its lawsuit opposing the merger of US Airways Group and American Airlines. Among the signers were six chambers from the Philadelphia area, one from Pennsylvania, and one from New Jersey. "We support the combination because the new American will be a better airline with a solid financial foundation," the letter said. "The new American will be able to compete effectively with Delta, United, Southwest and the ever increasing number of smaller carriers, and the business community will have a more efficient and dependable partner for air transportation needs." - Linda Loyd

Home sales in the 12-county Philadelphia region rose 15.7 percent in the first three quarters of 2013 compared with the same period last year, according to the Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors' HomExpert Market Report. In five Southeastern Pennsylvania counties, five South Jersey counties, and two in northern Delaware, 49,483 properties sold in the first nine months of the year, the report says. Bucks County had the largest jump with 5,310 properties sold, a 23.2 percent increase from last year. For the whole region, the average time that properties were on the market in the first three quarters of 2013 was 84 days, a 15.2 percent drop from the 2012 period, while median home prices climbed 4.4 percent to $214,000. The market still lags behind 2007, when 60,280 properties sold in the first three quarters at a median home price of $230,000, with an average of 65 days on the market, according to data from Prudential. - Alison Burdo

The Food and Drug Administration recommended Thursday that greater restrictions should be placed on prescription opioid painkillers because of the increased abuse of the drugs. Though some doctors say they would never prescribe opioid painkillers because the chances for addiction are so high, others prescribe them for cancer patients in great pain. Several pharmaceutical companies in the Philadelphia region produce brand-name or generic versions of opioids. Vicodin is one of the best-known name brands, but Malvern-based Endo Health Solutions sells Opana. Responding to a Drug Enforcement Administration request, the FDA suggests opioid painkillers containing hydrocodone should be reclassified as Schedule II drugs, which have tighter prescribing rules than Schedule III medicine. - David Sell

Wakefern Food Corp. the grocery cooperative that includes ShopRite and the Fresh Grocer stores, said it reached a retail sales record of $14.1 billion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 28 - up 3.9 percent from the prior year. The North Jersey company said its members opened 10 new ShopRites, four new PriceRite stores, and one new Fresh Grocer in the period. The 50-member cooperative represents 250 supermarkets in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, and Maryland. - Reid Kanaley

McKesson Corp., the largest U.S. pharmaceutical distributor, agreed to buy Germany's Celesio AG for about $5.4 billion to boost its share of the growing global generic-drug market. McKesson said it will acquire the 50.01 percent stake held by Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH, a family-owned investment company, and begin a tender offer to buy the remaining publicly traded shares. Including assumed debt, the purchase is valued at $8.4 billion. Valley Forge-based AmericsourceBergen is the second-largest U.S. wholesaler. - Bloomberg News

Ford Motor Co. earned a rare profit from its overseas operations on rising demand for Focus compact cars in China and B-Max vans in Europe and boosted its outlook for the full year. Based in Dearborn, Mich., Ford's car sales rose 12 percent to $33.9 billion. Chief executive officer Alan Mulally turned around Ford's North American operations by broadening its lineup with more competitive cars and then developed nearly identical models around the world. Chinese buyers made Focus the world's top-selling car name. - Bloomberg News