Markets

Stocks were mixed in the early afternoon, with the

Nasdaq Composite Index

sagging badly, while the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was handcuffed to the break-even point, well off its early session high.

European markets closed mixed. Germany's

DAX

soared more than 5% after German Finance Minister

Oskar Lafontaine

resigned last evening. Yesterday afternoon,

TSC's

Peter Eavis

weighed in on the departure of Oskar, whom Chancellor

Gerhard Schroeder

today replaced with Hesse State Governor

Hans Eichel

.

Asian markets were mixed, as Japan's

Nikkei

lost 13.28 to 15,488.86. But Hong Kong's

Hang Seng

surged 138.95 to 10,801.76 on the heels of yesterday's rally on Wall Street.

For more markets action and news, click

here.

Companies

Bankers Trust

(BT)

is shelling out $63.5 million in fines to settle charges that employees moved millions of dollars from unclaimed customer accounts into its own accounts and falsified records to cover up the theft.

Investor

Carl Icahn

yesterday vowed to start a proxy fight to make

RJR Nabisco Holdings

(RN)

spin off its food business rather than its U.S. tobacco operations. Icahn holds about 7.7% of the company. RJR CEO Steven F. Goldstone says the company will proceed as planned.

For more news on companies and stocks, click

here.

Tech

Fleet Financial Group

(FLT) - Get Report

is considering spinning off

Suretrade

, the online discount brokerage it acquired when it bought

Quick & Reilly

last year.

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

said it plans to announce details of its reorganization into four major groups in the "near future."

For more tech news and commentary, click

here.

General News

Representatives from Iran, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela today agreed to cut their oil production by more than 2 million barrels a day.

The

House Banking Committee

yesterday passed a compromise bill to overhaul the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which erected sharp barriers between the banking, insurance and securities industries. The bill would let subsidiaries of banks regulated by the

Treasury

move into any financial activity except insurance and real-estate development, but require banks with assets of more than $10 billion to expand through the holding company structure that

Fed

Chairman

Alan Greenspan

supports.

International

Days after ending talks with

DaimlerChrysler

(DCX)

,

Nissan Motor

(NSANY)

will likely announce a broad agreement with France's

Renault

as soon as next week, according to the

Kyodo News

service.

Societe Generale

and

Paribas

each rejected a $38 billion hostile bid for both banks made by

Banque Nationale de Paris

and said that they will merge as planned.

The Australian state of Victoria will sell gas distribution and retail companies

Multinet

and

Ikon Energy

to U.S. utility holding company

UtiliCorp United

(UCU)

and Australian financial services group

AMP

(AMP) - Get Report

for about $1.26 billion.

For more international news and commentary, click

here.

Elsewhere

March Madness kicked off yesterday with a number of first-round upsets. The Goliath-killers are

Weber State

(beating

North Carolina

), the

University of Detroit

(ousting

UCLA

),

Gonzaga

(sending

Minnesota

home) and

Creighton

(over

Louisville

).

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