Job marked called best in a decadeWASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Monday that college graduates are entering the strongest job market the country has seen in nearly a decade, and their degree is more important than ever.Yellen said that with changes such as technology and globalization, success is increasingly tied to higher education.She said that annual earnings for college graduates last year were on average 70 percent higher than those with only a high school diploma. Back in 1980 that difference was only 20 percent.

Hedge fund execs chargedNEW YORK — Hedge fund executives were charged Monday in a $1 billion fraud case linked to an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed three workers and injured several others.A founder and chief investment officer of Platinum Partners, and six other defendants were accused of lying to investors about the performance of a fund that ran into trouble when one of its largest assets, the Black Elk oil exploration company, had a rig explode in 2012 off Louisiana.Authorities accused Platinum of falsely reporting returns while collecting more than $100 million in fees during a conspiracy that cheated investors out of $1 billion.

GM plants go offline to reduce inventoryDETROIT — General Motors will temporarily close five factories next month as it tries to reduce a growing inventory of cars.The factories will close anywhere from one to three weeks due to the market shift toward trucks and SUVs. Just over 10,000 workers will be idled.The Detroit-Hamtramck factory and Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan., each will be shut down for three weeks, while a plant in Lansing, Mich., will be down for two weeks. Factories in Lordstown, Ohio, and Bowling Green, Ken., each will be idled for one week.