BUSINESS MEMO: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS

The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent in May, a level last seen when Richard Nixon was president.

Wall Street cheered, sending stock prices to record levels despite talk the strong economy will push interest rates up. After four consecutive monthly declines, the jobless rate is now the lowest since November 1973.

That's not to say that everyone has benefited equally. The May rate was 3.8 percent for adult men and 4.5 percent for adult women. But for teens it was 15.6 percent and for black teens, 33.2 percent. For all blacks, the rate was 10.3 percent, for Hispanics, 7.4 percent, and for whites, 4 percent.