For the past two days, the Merc hasn’t had a standalone business section. Instead two pages of business have been added to the back of the local section. Each day a business story has appeared on the front of the local section.

The first page of business this morning had a 4 column by 10 inch Pet Club ad on the bottom right. The second page had stock tables and jumps. All four stories were from the wire, including the one about how the health rumors swirling around Steve Jobs have hurt Apple’s stock. That’s the kind of story the Merc would have reported with its own staff in the past.

A few months ago, the Chronicle began combining the sports and business sections on many days of the week, with business on the back page and sports on the front.