Under the programme, contractors get a small fee when someone joins the scheme but they are only liable for larger fees once they have been in work for an extended period of time - of up to two years.

BBC: Work Programme under fire as charities shut down

Continuing to chew after the warm-up period seems to have required too much jaw-work, and burning more energy negated the benefits.

FORBES: Chew Yourself a Better Brain

But instead of dropping price improvement or addressing customer problems, Lutnick slapped BrokerTec with a suit, claiming it had violated eSpeed's patents on such bond-trading conventions as the "work-up" (a practice that gave a trader, buying or selling at a given price, the right to execute all trading at that price until he's done) and "trading time" (the grace period a trader has to act under a work-up).

FORBES: Briefing Book: Howard Lutnick

Analysts expected claims to increase by 9, 000 to 400, 000 for the week, leading to some questions about what a large number of unemployed Americans have done: whether it be giving up on looking for work, coming to the end of their unemployment benefit period, or indeed, found jobs.

FORBES: Jobless Claims Drop Last Week, Markets Swing To Strong Open

Levels of the winter vomiting bug dipped over the Christmas period, but are likely to go up again as people return to work and school, experts say.

BBC: Winter vomiting bug norovirus levels dip over Christmas

Work that started in earnest after Okposo mixed it up with Pittsburgh defenseman Matt Niskanen in the second period.

WSJ: Islanders rally , even series with Penguins