NATION

NATION
Federal Reserve maintainslow key interest rate
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve kept a key interest rate at a 45-year low Tuesday and repeated its pledge to keep rates at rock-bottom levels for a "considerable period."
Many analysts predicted that the Fed will keep rates at the current level for as long as a year, in part because of lingering worries that inflation has fallen to such low levels that the bigger risk right now is a destabilizing fall in prices rather than any threat of higher inflation.
Morgan Stanley is fined
WASHINGTON -- Morgan Stanley is paying a $2 million fine to settle allegations that it held prohibited sales contests -- offering tickets to Britney Spears concerts and the NBA finals -- to push its brokers to sell in-house mutual funds and certain annuities, regulators said Tuesday. The National Association of Securities Dealers said Morgan Stanley agreed to pay the fine without admitting wrongdoing.
Prosecutors charge brokerin investment scheme
NEW YORK -- New York prosecutors filed the first criminal counts Tuesday in their investigation of mutual fund trading practices, charging a former Bank of America broker in a scheme they said cost investors tens of millions of dollars.
Theodore Sihpol III, 36, surrendered Tuesday to face felony charges of grand larceny and violations of securities law. Authorities allege Sihpol helped Canary Capital Partners, a multimillion-dollar hedge fund, gain special trading opportunities known as late trading, in which mutual fund shares are bought at the 4 p.m. price after the market closes.
Associated Press