Amazon, Barnes & Noble cut e-reader prices Amazon.com on Monday slashed the price of the Kindle to $189 from $259 just hours after Barnes & Noble cut the cost of its competing electronic book reader. The latest round of price cuts reflects growing competition in the e-reader category, a trend that's putting more pressure on market leader Amazon. The introduction of Apple Inc.'s small iPad tablet computer has also given consumers another option. Earlier Monday, Barnes & Noble reduced the price of its e-reader, the Nook, to $199, down from $259. Barnes & Noble also introduced a new Wi-Fi-only version for $149.
SEC files fraud charges against adviser The government opened a new front in its probe of financial firms' dealings in the mortgage market, filing civil fraud charges Monday against an investment adviser and his firm in connection with complex securities during the 2007 housing bust. The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Thomas Priore and ICP Asset Management of fraudulently managing the securities in a way that cost investors tens of millions of dollars. The SEC also said Priore and the New York firm he owns and heads as president improperly reaped millions in fees and undisclosed profits at the expense of clients. Priore and ICP denied the SEC's charges and said they would contest them in court.
Gasoline prices heading higher Retail prices for gasoline have climbed over the past week and are headed back toward a national average of $2.80 to $2.90 per gallon, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. Pump prices rose 0.3 cents to a national average of $2.737 per gallon Monday, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report. Prices have risen 3.9 cents in the past week and are 7.5 cents below levels of a month ago, but 4.4 cents higher than a year ago.
Federal Reserve faults big banks on risk The Federal Reserve said Monday that a review of pay practices found many big banks to be "deficient" in curbing the excessive risk-taking that helped fuel the financial crisis. Banks must do a better job of identifying employees who can expose the company to "material risk," the Fed said in a statement in Washington with three other U.S. regulators. By issuing compensation guidelines updated from a Fed proposal in October, regulators aim to overhaul incentives usually set by corporate boards and reduce threats to the financial system.
High court sides with Monsanto In its first-ever ruling on genetically modified crops, the Supreme Court on Monday overturned a lower court's ban on the planting of alfalfa seeds engineered to resist Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. The decision was a victory for Monsanto and others in the agricultural biotechnology industry, with potential implications for other cases, like one involving genetically engineered sugar beets. But in practice the decision is not likely to measurably speed up the resumption of planting of the genetically engineered alfalfa. A federal district judge in San Francisco had ruled in 2007 that the Agriculture Department had approved the genetically engineered alfalfa for commercial planting without adequately considering the possible environment impact. But the Supreme Court, 7-1, said the lower court judge had gone too far, ruling that the national ban prevented the Agriculture Department from considering a partial OK.
Egypt acknowledges oil spill in Red Sea Environmental activists said Monday that an oil spill off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea is continuing even after the government said it had been contained. Government spokesman Magdy Rady told the state news agency Monday that the spill, which began last week, was "limited" and has now largely been contained. It was one of the first government acknowledgments that the spill was even taking place. An environmental group based in the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada, Egypt, said the government was trying to cover up the extent of the damage and the leak had restarted. Oil company officials in the port city of Suez said the spill was caused by a leak from an offshore oil platform north of Hurghada in Jebel al-Zayt and has polluted about 100 miles of coastline.
Wells Fargo settles digital-check patent suit Wells Fargo & Co. settled a patent-infringement suit filed by DataTreasury Corp. over digital checks. The agreement covers patent claims against Wachovia Corp., which was bought by San Francisco-based Wells Fargo last year. DataTreasury had been seeking more than $100 million from Wells Fargo and $30 million from Wachovia, according to court records. Plano, Texas-based DataTreasury has sued U.S. banks over a way of creating digital images of checks, their transmission and storage.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
