This is bad news for Kerry

[mburbank]

"FleetBoston Financial Corp. expects to pay $59.4 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission claims of trading abuses by its New York Stock Exchange market-making unit, according to a regulatory filing…"
-Boston Globe, 3/3/04

"Putnam Investments dismissed one of its top executives and three other employees after an internal review discovered they failed to fix a bungled transaction three years ago that cost a corporate retirement account $1.5 million…"
-Boston Globe, 3/3/04

"Former WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers was indicted on federal fraud and conspiracy charges yesterday, accused of orchestrating the biggest accounting shell game in corporate history. His chief financial officer, Scott Sullivan, will testify against him in a plea deal."
-Boston Globe, 3/3/04

"NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Nasdaq declined and the other major indexes finished nearly unchanged after a skittish trading session Wednesday that saw investors reluctant to take action ahead of Friday's jobless report and after the morning's ho-hum economic news."
-CNN moneyline 3/3/04

"Shell's two most senior directors, including chairman Sir Philip Watts, resigned today in response to pressure from angry shareholders over news in January that reserves had been overestimated."
-NYT 3/3/04

"Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s newly purchased Warner Music said on Tuesday it will lay off about 1,000 people, or 20 percent of its global work force, and combine parts of two labels to stay competitive in a tough industry."
-Reutuers 3/3/04

"Ford, the world's second-largest automaker, lost $1.1 billion in Europe last year. Even before the final results were released, executives said they would slash costs and beef up the product lineup to improve business."
-AP wire 3/3/04

"Personal computer and consumer electronics gear maker Gateway Inc. has cut about 1,000 jobs this year and will cut another 1,000 in the next few months, bringing the number of employees down to about 5,500, a company spokesman said on Tuesday."
-Reuters 3/3/04

"Planned job cuts in February fell to their lowest level in five months, but companies are still in a strong downsizing mode that is not likely to end any time soon, according to a report on Tuesday."
-Reuters 3/2/04