Clothing retailer: Levi Strauss to close plants

Levi Strauss & Co., whose jeans are an all-American symbol, said Monday it is closing six U.S. plants and eliminating 3,600 jobs as it moves away from the business of actually making the clothes it sells.

The cuts amount to about 22 percent of its work force.

Since 1997, the company had already closed 24 North American plants, shifting the work to cheaper overseas manufacturers and laying off about 13,000 employees.

The latest closings, also shifting work overseas, leave only two plants open in the United States. In June, the company will close plants in San Francisco and Blue Ridge, Ga.; in August, plants in Brownsville and San Benito, Tex.; and in October, plants in Powell, Tenn., and El Paso, Tex.

Enron case: Defendants add nine banks to list in securities lawsuit

Nine investment banks financed lucrative schemes that helped Enron Corp. maintain its pre-collapse image as a profit powerhouse, according to attorneys who plan to add the banks to a shareholder lawsuit.

William Lerach, the lead attorney in the case, said the banks’ knowledge of the questionable partnerships and financial vehicles gave them an inside view of Enron’s financial condition as they sold securities to investors. The attorneys plan to add the banks as defendants in the class-action lawsuit.

The banks are J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; Citigroup Inc.; Credit Suisse First Boston USA Inc.; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC); Bank of America Corp.; Merrill Lynch & Co.; Barclays Bank PLC; Deutsche Bank AG; and Lehman Brothers Holding Inc.

Brokerage: Ameritrade buying rival

Ameritrade, a pioneer in online trading, is buying its rival Datek for $1.29 billion in stock to form the nation’s busiest brokerage on the Internet.

The combined company will keep the Ameritrade name and will have about 164,000 daily trading transactions almost all of them online passing Charles Schwab & Co.’s 152,000 online and other daily trades, according to Monday’s announcement.

The new company will be based in Omaha, Neb., and will be led by Ameritrade chief executive Joe Moglia.

Earnings: Investors drop IBM shares

IBM Corp. jolted Wall Street on Monday, warning investors that its first quarter earnings per share would come in well below analysts’ expectations.

Investors responded by dumping its shares. In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, IBM shares dropped $9.84 to $87.41 a share.

IBM said it expects to earn 66 cents to 70 cents per share for the quarter, which ended March 31, compared to the 85 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call.