INTERNATIONAL

WTO AUTHORIZES SANCTIONS AGAINST U.S. OVER ANTI-DUMPING RULES

World Trade Organization arbitrators yesterday authorized the European Union and other leading American trade partners to impose sanctions against the United States in response to anti-dumping rules. The decision by the WTO in Geneva allows the complainants to fine the United States up to 72% of money collected under the Byrd Amendment, which empowers Washington to levy fines against foreign companies judged to be dumping goods on the American market. Those fines are then paid to rival American companies that filed complaints against the foreign exporters. The E.U.’s trade commissioner, Pascal Lamy, indicated that the 25-nation bloc may hold off before imposing sanctions. “This is a decision that still has to be taken,” he told reporters. Besides the E.U., global trade regulators backed the bids by Japan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, South Korea, and Mexico to impose countermeasures against the American law. However, the complainants may prefer to use the threat of sanctions as a “smoking gun” to force America to repeal the legislation more quickly or to obtain concessions in other trade negotiations. “Japan strongly hopes the United States will repeal the Byrd Amendment at an early date, so that we can avoid invoking our right to take countermeasures,” Japan’s economy, trade and industry minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, said in Tokyo. Mr. Nakagawa was quoted by Japan’s Kyodo News service as saying that if the United States refuses to repeal the Byrd Amendment, Japan will ask the WTO to approve, “possibly this fall,” specific retaliatory measures. American officials pointed out that the WTO’s ruling fell short of the requests of the complainants, who had sought the right to increase import tariffs on selected American goods by the total amount collected in fines against their exporters in the previous year. “The arbitrators’ determinations fell far short of the amount requested by the complaining parties,” an American trade spokesman, Christopher Padilla, said in a statement. He said the Bush administration would work with Congress to comply with the WTO “in a way that supports American jobs and American workers.” – Associated Press

CANADA’S ECONOMY EXPANDED AT 4.3% RATE IN 2ND QUARTER Canada’s economic growth accelerated to a 4.3% annual rate in the second quarter, the fastest in two years, and the government increased its estimate of expansion in the first three months of the year.

Surging exports pushed Canada’s gross domestic product, the sum of goods and services produced by the world’s eighth-largest economy, to an annualized C$1.12 trillion ($851 billion) between April and June, Statistics Canada said in Ottawa. StatsCan raised its first-quarter growth estimate to 3% from 2.4%.

Bank of Canada Deputy Governor David Longworth said last week that the central bank will raise interest rates to check inflation as the economy eats up capacity, leaving investors and executives to speculate on when. Policy makers next gather to set borrowing costs on September 8, then meet again in October.

– Bloomberg News

TECHNOLOGY

APPLE TO START SHIPPING NEW IMAC IN MID-SEPTEMBER Apple Computer Inc., the no. 2 supplier of computers to the U.S. education market, will start shipping a new version of the iMac personal computer in the middle of September, in time for the holiday shopping season. The new iMac, an all-in-one design where the computer is contained behind the monitor, will cost $1,299 with a 17-inch screen, Senior Vice President Phil Schiller said at Apple Expo 2004 in Paris. A 20-inch screen version, with more computing power, is $1,899.The line will have G5 processors, he said.

Apple missed its first release date and the back-to-school shopping season, which may hurt sales in the education market, where the Cupertino, Calif.-based company gets almost 20% of revenue and is losing share to Dell Inc. Investors say the new compact design and price should appeal to consumers.

The iMac computer, using a processor from International Business Machines Corp., is entirely built into the back of the display, which is 2 inches thick. That makes it the thinnest desktop computer, Schiller said. It has an aluminum base.

Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, 49, introduced the iMac six years ago, and demand began to wane last year. iMac sales have dropped for six straight quarters, sinking 22% to $235 million in Apple’s third quarter. It accounted for 12% of company sales. – Bloomberg News

NATIONAL

UBS TO BUY SCHWAB STOCK TRADING UNIT FOR $265 MILLION UBS AG, the world’s largest money manager for the rich, agreed to buy Charles Schwab Corp.’s market making, research and institutional trading unit for $265 million in cash, giving it the no. 2 trader of Nasdaq stocks.

Buying Charles Schwab SoundView Capital Markets gives Zurich-based UBS a business that handles trading in more than 200 million shares a day, matching orders for more than 11,000 equities, the bank said in a statement. UBS is the third biggest trader of New York Stock Exchange-listed shares and will now rival leader Knight Trading Group Inc. in Nasdaq stocks.

The sale is a reversal for Schwab, which eight months ago bought SoundView Technology Group Inc. for $321 million, and ends the San Francisco-based company’s effort to develop an institutional trading business that started with the 1991 purchase of market-maker Mayer & Schweitzer. As part of the agreement, UBS, Europe’s largest bank by assets, will handle Schwab’s stock and options trading for eight years.

– Bloomberg News

REGULATORY

FORMER INVESCO EXECUTIVES BARRED FROM FUND INDUSTRY Three former Invesco Funds Group Inc. executives were barred from the mutual fund industry and agreed to pay a combined $340,000 in fines to resolve American regulators’ allegations that they allowed improper trading by favored clients.

Invesco’s former chief investment officer, Timothy Miller, the Denver-based firm’s former national sales director, Thomas Kolbe, and a former assistant vice president in sales, Michael Legoski, settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission without admitting or denying the allegations, the SEC said in a statement.

The SEC and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued Amvescap Plc’s Invesco in December. Mr. Spitzer claimed Invesco executives engaged in a “massive mutual fund scheme” by allowing some customers including the Canary Capital Partners LLC hedge fund to make short-term trades that diluted the returns of other investors. The case against Invesco is still pending.

In the settlements, Mr. Miller, 46, will pay $150,000 and he also agreed that he won’t serve as an officer or director at an investment company for at least three years, the SEC said. Mr. Kolbe also will pay $150,000 and will be barred from working for a fund company for at least two years. Mr. Legoski, 47, will pay $40,000 and be barred from the industry for at least a year.

The case against the former Invesco executives brings total penalties levied against companies and industry officials to about $2.5 billion since Mr. Spitzer unveiled the probe of widespread trading abuses in the fund industry a year ago. – Bloomberg News

U.S. SEEKS FIRST PENALTIES FOR DO-NOT-CALL VIOLATIONS The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is seeking the first civil penalties for a violation of rules against unwelcome sales pitches, saying telemarketer Braglia Marketing Group LLC called consumers without permission.

Braglia, based in Las Vegas, made more than 300,000 calls asking people to buy resort properties in Atlantic City,N.J., the FTC said in a statement. According to the FTC’s complaint, the court could award the agency as much as $11,000 for each violation.

American government officials are trying to enforce a nationwide do-not-call registry set up by the FTC and Federal Communications Commission last year. The list includes more than 60 million phone numbers of people who don’t want to receive unsolicited calls from marketers.

The commission also is seeking civil penalties against Braglia’s principals, Frank and Kate Braglia. Attempts to reach the company were unsuccessful as the phone number was busy. A phone call to FTC spokeswoman Jen Schwartzman wasn’t immediately returned. Braglia’s clients include Flagship Resort Development Corp. and Atlantic Palace Development LLC., which sell timeshare properties in Atlantic City, the FTC said.

– Bloomberg News