Endnotes
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SETTLEMENT
Bank of America Corporation, the third-largest American lender, agreed to pay investors $460.5 million to settle allegations that it helped sell $15.4 billion in WorldCom Inc. bonds when the bank should have known the company was lying about its finances. The agreement follows a $2.6 billion settlement in May by Citigroup Inc. and will help persuade the other 14 banks in the suit, including JPMorgan Chase & Company, and Deutsche Bank, to settle, said Robert Mintz, a lawyer with the Newark, N.J., firm of McCarter & English.
– Bloomberg News
MUTUAL FUNDS
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule allowing mutual funds to charge a 2% redemption fee on frequent trades to deter market timing, a tactic at the center of abuses in the $8 trillion industry. The SEC commissioners voted 5-0 yesterday on the voluntary fee, dropping a plan they considered last year that would have made the charge mandatory. The fee would apply to sales of fund shares redeemed within seven days.
FINES
A judge has fined Amazon.com $18,000 for violating her order in a lawsuit brought by Toys R Us charging the Internet merchant with flouting its exclusivity agreement with the nation’s second biggest toy retailer.
Wayne-based Toys R Us sought the sanction, claiming that after its lawsuit was filed last year, Amazon listed 46 products on its Web site that only Toys R Us was allowed to sell. The motion was opposed by Seattle-based Amazon.
– Associated Press
FARMING
The Department of Agriculture has declared 27 New York counties primary disaster areas because of unfavorable growing conditions last year.
The move by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns makes farmers in almost every county in the state eligible to receive federal disaster assistance. Growers in those 27 counties, along with 27 abutting counties, are eligible for low interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency.
– Associated Press
OIL PRICES
Oil prices that topped $55 per barrel pressured stocks Thursday, leaving the major indexes mixed despite upbeat retail sales and strong economic news. A barrel of light crude for April delivery was quoted at $53.57, up 52 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose as high as $55.20 in intraday trading – a new four-month high.
The Dow Jones industrial gained 21.06, or 0.19 percent, to 10,833.03.
The broader gauges were mixed. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.39, or 0.03%, to 1,210.47, while the Nasdaq was down 9.10, or 0.44 percent, at 2,058.40.
