President Bush intends to nominate a professor from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis to fill a Republican vacancy on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Troy Paredes, 37, who has taught securities regulation, corporate governance and other subjects at the school since 2001, is the choice to replace Paul Atkins, according to an administration official who requested anonymity because the nomination had not yet been formally announced.
Medtronic cutting 1,100
Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. is planning to trim its global work force by about 3 percent this fiscal year, cutting 1,100 jobs.
A spokeswoman said in an e-mail Tuesday that the cuts would come from Medtronic businesses that were no longer growing at previous rates.
Mistakes made
Mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., under investigation for inflating certain borrowers’ fees, acknowledged Tuesday that it had made errors and pledged to take steps to improve its operations.
Steve Bailey, chief executive for loan administration at Countrywide, told a Senate panel that the company’s loan officers have made mistakes “from time to time.” But he disputed accusations made by hundreds of borrowers in Pennsylvania, Florida and other states that the company had sought to collect inflated payments by filing inaccurate bankruptcy documents.
Fed auction
Battling to relieve stressed credit markets, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday it has provided a total of $435 billion in short-term loans to squeezed banks since December to help them overcome credit problems.
The central bank announced the results of its most recent auction — $75 billion in short-term loans — the 11th such auction since the program started in December.
It’s part of an ongoing effort by the Fed to help ease the credit crunch, which erupted last August, intensified in December and January and took another turn for the worse in March.
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