Amazon.com on Thursday announced it plans to create more than 100,000 full-time jobs over the next 18 months, a massive hiring spree that suggests the e-commerce company expects a run of breakneck growth for its retailing operations and its lucrative cloud computing division.

Amazon, whose chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, says the hiring will include a broad range of positions, including engineers and software developers but also big teams to work in its growing network of fulfillment centers.

The announcement by Amazon comes as President-elect Donald Trump has directed a series of angry tweets at companies that have moved jobs overseas or are opening new plants abroad. Perhaps in response, many in corporate America have begun to trumpet their commitment to creating jobs in the United States. Last week, for example, when Stanley Black & Decker announced it had agreed to buy the Craftsman tool brand from Sears, it stressed that the deal would mean the company was going to do more manufacturing stateside.

Amazon's plans to significantly grow its workforce are a sharp contrast to what has been seen elsewhere in the retail industry in recent weeks.

Iran gets first of 100 Airbus jets

The first of 100 Airbus planes that Iran purchased following its nuclear deal with world powers arrived in Tehran on Thursday, heralding a new chapter for the country's aging and accident-prone fleet after years of sanctions.

The Iran Air A321 jet touched down after a flight from Toulouse, France, where Airbus headquarters are located. The 189-seat plane is the first purchased under a December deal worth $18 billion.

An official told reporters at an airport ceremony that the plane would be used for domestic flights, Iran's Press TV reported. The semi-official ISNA news agency quoted him as saying two more Airbus jetliners would be delivered in the next two months.

CVS cuts cost of EpiPen rival

CVS is now selling a rival, generic version of Mylan's EpiPen at about a sixth of its price, just months after the maker of the life-saving allergy treatment was eviscerated before Congress because of its soaring cost to consumers.

The drugstore chain says it will charge $109.99 for a two-pack of the authorized generic version of Adrenaclick, a lesser-known treatment compared to EpiPen, which can cost more than $600.

CVS Health Corp., the nation's second-largest drugstore chain, says it cut the price it charges for the generic version of Adrenaclick nearly in half. The lower price is now available at all 9,600 CVS stores in the U.S.

THE BOTTOM LINE

$27.5B Total of the federal government's budget deficit, which rose from a year earlier for the second straight month, the latest sign of a rising financing gap. The Treasury Department said Thursday that the December budget deficit was nearly double the $14 billion in December 2015. In the first three months of the government's budget year, the deficit is slightly below last year's total.