DALLAS >> Chevron suffered its first money-losing quarter since 2002 in the final three months of last year as plunging crude prices chopped more than one-third from its revenue.

Cheaper energy is great for consumers, who save with every fill-up, but oil-producing nations and big exploration companies like Chevron and Exxon are paying the price.

Chevron is cutting spending, laying off workers and looking to sell even more of its assets. The problem with that strategy: It’s a buyer’s market right now for oil facilities, with too many for-sale signs.

San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron Corp. reported Friday that it lost $588 million in the fourth quarter. That compares with Chevron’s profit of $3.47 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, when the slump in oil prices was in its early stages.

Revenue plummeted 37 percent to $29.25 billion.

American Airlines posts record profit

FORT WORTH, Texas >> American Airlines reported a record profit for the fourth quarter and all of 2015 as a sharp drop in fuel prices more than offset lower revenue.

The world’s biggest airline said Friday that its full-year earnings were the highest for any carrier when one-time items were excluded. American is poised for another big year: Airline officials said they expect to save another $2 billion on fuel in 2016.

American Airlines Group Inc. posted net income of $3.28 billion in the fourth quarter. The results were inflated by an accounting gain from a tax item, a $3 billion credit because American reversed a tax valuation now that it is making money after losses in earlier years. Delta and United have made the same accounting change.

Without that and other one-time items, American said it earned $1.3 billion, or $2 a share, compared with $1.1 billion, or $1.52 a share, a year earlier. That was still a record and beat Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet predicted $1.97 per share.

Caterpillar to shut 5 plants, cutting 670 jobs

Caterpillar says it plans to close five plants, causing a net reduction of about 670 jobs in Illinois and several other states, as part of a broader cost-cutting campaign announced last year.

The mining and construction equipment company will cut about 230 jobs for office and production workers at a major manufacturing campus in East Peoria, Ill., where Caterpillar says it’s consolidating some manufacturing and transferring some work to outside contractors. Another 120 employees there will be placed on indefinite layoff.

Xerox to split company amid falling sales

Xerox reported its 15th consecutive quarter of declining sales Friday and announced plans to split the company into two businesses by the end of the year.

The move will reverse a 6-year-old effort by the printer and copier maker to boost sales by providing outsourced business services to corporate customers. Xerox said Friday that it will spin off the services operation it acquired when it bought Affiliated Computer Services Inc. in 2010.

Xerox has been under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, who has argued that its business outsourcing service would be more valuable as a stand-alone company.

U.S. consumer confidence declines

WASHINGTON >> American consumers lost some confidence this month after the stock market tumbled and the economy showed signs of weakness, the University of Michigan said Friday.

The university’s index of consumer sentiment slipped to 92 in January from 92.6 last month. A year ago the index stood at 98.1.

Richard Curtin, chief economist for Michigan’s surveys, blamed a drop in stocks that caused an “an erosion of household wealth, as well as weakened prospects for the national economy.”

On the Move

‘Ike has announced the following new appointments to its Ambient management consultancy:

>> Matt Hawkins as president. He has 14 years of advisory and management consulting experience.

>> Ben Ancheta as principal. He currently serves as chief development officer for ‘ike, and his experience includes being chief revenue officer at ProService Hawaii and positions with Luminant and Deloitte LLP.

>> Aisha Price as senior advisory associate. She was previously a senior associate for accounting advisory firm PwC.