Planned layoffs up 13.5% in October: Challenger

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)
Planned layoffs climbed to 45,730 in October, up 13.5% from September but down 4.2% from the same month of 2012, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas
The pharmaceutical industry saw the heaviest job cutting in October, with 10,585 job cuts announced, due to planned cuts at Merck & Co
Second to the pharmaceutical industry in October job cuts was the financial sector, which announced 8,717 job cuts during the month, the second-highest since February
Bank of America announced 4,200 cuts