Small businesses kept to their slow pace of hiring during October, according to two reports Thursday.

Some Rhode Island workers who find themselves out of work because of storm damage from Sandy may be able to avoid the usual one-week delay in earning unemployment benefits.

Payroll provider ADP said on Thursday that businesses added 158,000 jobs in October, picking up the pace set in the previous month.

Omnicare Inc., which dispenses drugs for nursing homes and other long-term care centers, saw its third-quarter earnings more than double, as an increase in more profitable generic drugs and some lower costs helped balance prescription declines.

WellCare Health Plans Inc. chopped its 2012 earnings forecast on Wednesday and reported a 57 percent drop in third-quarter net income as the Medicaid coverage provider took a premium hit in Georgia, and high costs hurt its Kentucky operation.

A panel of lawmakers has heard recommendations for reforming Kentucky's public pension plan in an effort to make it solvent.

German insurance group Allianz SE says its net income bounced back strongly in the third quarter to 1.4 billion ($1.8 billion).

Cardinal Health posted a 15 percent jump in first-quarter net income as sales of low-cost generic drugs rose.