Bear Stearns settles with SEC for $250 million

Bear Stearns Cos. on Thursday became the third brokerage in as many days to posted record first-quarter earnings and revenues, but the good news was overshadowed by old problems — illegal market timing practices that bilked mutual fund investors out of millions.

The New York Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday that they fined Bear Stearns $250 million — nearly half of its profits for the first quarter — for illegally helping hedge funds and other customers trade mutual fund shares. It was the biggest settlement ever reached by the NYSE’s regulatory arm.

•General Motors Corp. is hoping to clear out inventory with a “March Madness” cash incentive program that started Thursday and runs through April 4, tied to the NCAA basketball tournament.

The nation’s biggest automaker is offering $500 to $1,500 in cash back on top of other incentives for 2005 and 2006 vehicles that have been on dealer lots since Nov. 16, said company spokeswoman Deborah Silverman.

GM is offering $500 on cars and small sport utility vehicles and $1,000 cash back on its trucks, full-sized SUVs, the Chevrolet SSR and Cadillac models. Two vehicles — the half-ton extended-cab Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-sized pickups — have $1,500 cash bonuses.

•Delta Air Lines Inc. won’t lower the amount of concessions it is seeking from its pilots any further, but would be willing to discuss concerns pilots have about the possible termination of their defined benefit pension plan, the carrier’s chief financial officer said in an interview Thursday.

CFO Edward Bastian, following the fourth day of two weeks of hearings before an arbitration panel that will decide whether to allow the company to throw out its pilot contract, made the most definitive statement to date about what Delta is willing to accept and what it isn’t.

•Chemical company BASF AG said Thursday it has extended its $4.9 billion tender offer for Engelhard Corp. until April 14. Engelhard said it still considers the offer inadequate, but agreed to let the German company examine its financial books.

It was the third time Ludwigshafen-based BASF has extended its offer for the Iselin, N.J.-based specialty chemicals company. Of the 120 million outstanding shares of its stock, just 767,913 shares have been tendered for the takeover.