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Monthly electricity bills will rise 8.5 percent, increasing $7.58 from the previous $89.56 to a new average of $97.14, PG&E said. . . More increases could be in the works, however.

U.S. stocked tumbled at the open and remained lower throughout the session on the heels of a rout in European and Asian markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 467 points in morning trading before recovering slightly.

Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com, tied California’s rising prices to ongoing problems at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance. The facility, which typically produces about 10 percent of California’s specially formulated gasoline, has been offline for gas production since an equipment failure caused an explosion there in mid February, injuring four people. . . The problem has been compounded by the fact that California is an island when it comes to getting gas from outside the state.

Before Monday, the U.S. economy appeared to have ended 2015 on solid, though unspectacular, footing. Many economists were estimating that the nation’s gross domestic product–or the sum of all goods and services produced–grew at an annual pace of roughly 2% in October through December. . . But those estimates are falling, due to weak readings Monday morning on the nation’s manufacturing and construction activity, two key drivers of economic growth.

A recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than seven million people who are eligible for exchange coverage would pay less in penalties than for the least expensive insurance available to them. More than half would not qualify for subsidies, the analysis found.

Many of the areas with double-digit unemployment rates are in inland California, a working-class region hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.

The study from Beacon and Next 10, a California public policy research group, looked at annual census data going back to 1976. The numbers provide a state-by-state and national look at the number of business establishments that open or close in any given year, along with jobs tied to those companies.

California gained 30,500 jobs in December.

Violent crime in L.A. climbed 19.9% and property crime increased 10.3% through Dec. 26 compared with the same period last year, according to the police data. It marked the second year in a row that violent crime rose, but the first time since 2003 that both violent and property crime rose.

PG&E’s average monthly bill for residential customers in 2016 will jump 7 percent to $147.21, the utility reported Wednesday. That follows a 6 percent rise at the start of 2015 and marks the highest increase since 2006. . . More bill increases will likely follow.

Casa de Tamales in the Tower District is among several valley restaurants which say they have no choice but to raise menu prices. . . Attendance at Fresno’s Chaffee Zoo is on pace for another record-breaking year, but half the staff will be impacted by the minimum wage pay hike. . . CEO Scott Barton said. “For the first time in 12 years in 2016, we are raising the entrance fee to get into the zoo.”

The typical San Francisco millennial can only afford to buy 135 square feet of housing, the lowest buying power in the country, according to personal finance company SmartAsset. . . San Francisco also requires discretionary review of all major projects, which adds months for new development. Other cities allow new buildings to be built if they conform to existing zoning codes. The median time from initial applications to completions ranged from 38 months to projects under 10,000 square feet to 71 months for projects over 250,000 square feet, according to Paragon.

“This year’s report shines its harshest spotlight on many courts and government authorities throughout hyper-litigious California, where legislators see fit to produce more than 800 new laws each year, inviting evermore litigation as residents and businesses can’t hope to keep up with what’s legal and what isn’t,” Joyce continued.

Allison Mac, a Los Angeles-based petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said the recent spikes were tied to a flurry of breakdowns and “maintenance issues” at multiple Golden State refineries that produce the specific blend of gas required in California.

The answer varies by company and industry. For example, Apple is the most profitable company on the Fortune 500. With $39.5 billion in annual profit and about 97,000 employees, Apple’s annual profit per employee is $407,000. . . Apple could absorb a minimum-wage increase easily. . . The situation is far different for America’s retail businesses, where a minimum-wage increase would be most deleterious. Combine every retailer, restaurant, supermarket and retail pharmacy company in the Fortune 500 as a proxy for the retail industry. . . and annual profit per employee of $6,300 (1.5% of Apple’s profit per employee). . . an increase to $9 an hour would result in an annual wage increase of $2,730. . . At $15 an hour, the employee would make $12,090 more a year, resulting in a loss per employee of $5,790.