Securities

The SEC responds to the financial markets’ urgent needs in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center. For the first time, the agency uses its emergency powers to grant temporary relief from regulatory restrictions on certain activities including companies’ repurchase of their own securities, brokerage firms’ calculation of net capital, mutual funds’ borrowing from and lending to related parties and accountants’ provision of bookkeeping services to clients in the stricken area. ( www.sec.gov/news/press/2001-91.txt ; www.sec.gov/news/press/2001-97.txt )