At the Bell

Profit warning hits shares of Conseco

Gary Wendt, the former GE Capital Corp. chief who was brought in last year to restore investor confidence and revive Conseco Inc., the troubled Indiana insurer, is now in the hot seat over the company’s continuing chain of negative “special charges” and deteriorating operating results in its finance and insurance businesses.

Conseco’s stock fell by more than a third to $9.03 per share last week after the company announced a $25.7 million second-quarter loss and cut its 2001 per-share earnings forecast to 80 to 95 cents, from 90 cents to $1.10.

A company spokesman says short-sellers are driving the sell-off. “We have 100 institutions out there who understand the story and are comfortable with their investment,” he adds.

New job cuts due at Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab Corp. will further reduce its work force and cut its technological capacity in an effort to trim costs in the face of continued weak trading. The San Francisco broker disclosed the planned cuts in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.

Schwab cut 11% of its work force, or about 2,800 employees, last quarter. On Friday, the shares fell 18 cents, or 1.28%, to $13.83, a hair above its 52-week low of $13.14 and well below its 52-week high of $40.43.

Credit Suisse mulls shutting two funds

The boards of the Credit Suisse Warburg Pincus Growth and Long-Short Market Neutral funds are considering shutting them down, according to filings last Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington.

For now, the funds aren’t selling any more shares as the boards decide their future. The funds are small and therefore have high expense ratios. The long-short fund had about $5.9 million in assets in June, while the assets for the growth fund were not readily available.

Poll: People read privacy notices

Most Americans took the time to read the privacy policies they received from their financial institutions, understood the policies and were satisfied with them.

Those were the findings of a Harris Poll of 1,000 adults conducted last week for the Securities Industry Association, which opposes more-stringent privacy rules.

The poll found that 67% of those who recall receiving the notices said they read them. Responding to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley financial modernization law, financial companies this year informed tens of millions of consumers that they could “opt out” of allowing the sharing of personal data with unaffiliated companies.

CFPs dominate a top-planner list

Three-fourths of the financial planners listed by Worth magazine in its September issue as the nation’s top planners hold the certified financial planner certification, the CFP Board of Standards in Denver has noted. Of the 250 planners listed, 196 of them are CFPs. In 20 states, all the advisers on the list hold the CFP certificate.

Zurich denies deal for Scudder looms

A report in The Times of London saying Zurich Financial Services AG is about to sell its Scudder asset management business is speculation, a spokeswoman for Zurich said Friday. According to the report, Deutsche Bank is the leading candidate to purchase Scudder, for about $2.85 billion.

Zurich said previously it was exploring options for Scudder in an attempt to increase profits.

Zurich Financial’s shares rose 2% in early Friday trading but fell a bit after the company issued its denial, closing up 1.6%.

Correction

* An article in the Aug. 6 issue of InvestmentNews about the Calvert Social Investment Fund advisory council should have reported that the council advises the company on social screening criteria. The group does not advise Calvert on investment policies.