STEVE INSKEEP, host: The business news starts with layoffs at a hedge fund.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The hedge fund Amaranth announced it will be cutting about 250 employees by week's end, or about 60 percent of its staff.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: This fund is shutting down after losing more than $6 billion, much of it in the energy markets. Amaranth lost hundreds of millions of dollars in natural gas investments in mid-September alone.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Toyota is building up. It's announced it expects to spend $10 billion per year in capital investments, primarily to add manufacturing and assembly sites. About half the spending is expected to go to places outside Japan, mostly in the United States where the domestic automakers are struggling.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The new Japanese prime minister on his first trip to China over the weekend got an agreement to jointly develop gas fields in the East China Sea, but Asian markets were upset by the news from North Korea, which we're following today -news of a nuclear test.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: South Korea's stock market fell to its lowest close in more than six weeks. Hong Kong stocks were down more than one percent, and Japan's markets were closed today for a holiday.
It will cut about 250 employees, about 60 percent of its staff, by week's end. Also, Toyota boosts capital investments and Japan and China agree to jointly develop gas fields in the East China Sea.