Wells Fargo will add 100 workers and add three branches to its Puget Sound network this year. The company has budgeted for the expansion but hasn’t picked the locations, a spokesman said. A decision should be made by the end of the first quarter. Most of the new employees will be added at Wells Fargo’s existing 126 Puget Sound-area branches, the spokesman said. They will include 30 business bankers, 30 “personal bankers” to sell bank services and 11 financial consultants.
Bothell-based SonoSite Inc. has opened an operation in Germany to sell its hand-held ultrasound equipment, the company announced Monday. It’s part of an international sales network that includes operations in the United Kingdom and France. The company, which switched from outside sales contractors to direct sales last year, said it will also add an operation in Spain.
Budget airline EasyJet said Monday it is seeking to buy up to 75 new passenger jets from Boeing or Airbus as it continues to buck the problems hitting major carriers. The airline based near London said it was continuing to grow and judged the time right to expand its fleet of 27 planes. EasyJet, which now flies only Boeing 737s, said it expects to acquire up to 75 jets by 2007.
A 17-year-old has agreed to turn over some $900,000 he allegedly swindled from investors in an Internet sports betting scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a civil lawsuit that Cole A. Bartiromo, who lives with his parents in Mission Viejo, Calif., defrauded about 1,000 investors through his “Invest Better 2001” Web site and bulletin board. The SEC announced the settlement Monday, saying Bartiromo raised more than $1 million by selling what he described as “risk-free” investments.
The Treasury Department sold three-month bills Monday at a discount rate of 1.655 percent, down from 1.71 percent last week. Six-month bills sold at a rate of 1.75 percent, a record low and down from 1.8 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors – 1.684 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,958.20 and 1.791 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,911.50. The Federal Reserve also said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills, the most popular index for changing adjustable rate mortgages, dipped to 2.24 percent last week from 2.28 percent.
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