Credit card delinquencies increase to record levels

The percentage of credit card payments that were past due shot up to a new record in the final quarter of last year, but delinquency rates for some other types of consumer loans dropped, painting a mixed picture of how Americans are handling their debt.

The seasonally adjusted percentage of credit card accounts 30 or more days past due rose to 4.43 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003, the American Bankers Assn. reported in a quarterly survey released Tuesday. That surpassed the previous quarterly high of 4.09 percent set in the third quarter of last year.

Economists blamed the high delinquency rate on an economic recovery that has produced few jobs.

Mutual funds

Putnam investigation finds lax attitudes

Executives at Putnam Investments did not regard improper trading by several portfolio managers as serious misconduct and were slow to stop excessive trading by a handful of outside investors, according to an internal investigation of Putnam’s trading practices.

But the six-month investigation also found that, despite shortcomings, the country’s sixth-largest mutual fund company largely did a good job of policing improper trading.

The trustees’ conclusions are similar to the results of an internal investigation by Putnam’s management, led by new chief executive Charles “Ed” Haldeman Jr., conducted during the winter. That probe led to the firing of nine more employees for improper trading; six investment professionals earlier had been fired.

Putnam has reached a partial settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but still faces fraud allegations from regulators in Massachusetts, where the company is based.

Retail

Wal-Mart expands offerings of online music

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday officially launched its online music store with an expanded roster of artists, and kept the price at the same 88 cents per song that it offered during a three-month test.

The store, which sells digital downloads for 11 percent less than major competitors, expanded its catalog of artists by 50 percent.

Wal-Mart began testing the site, which allows customers to download songs from the Internet, in December. The company will face off against a number of companies that are better known in the online music space, such as Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes music store and Roxio Inc.’s Napster.