Online UPDATE

Investors pursue less litigation

The number of class-action lawsuits alleging securities fraud filed in the first half of the year fell to the lowest level since 1996. As of June 30, 61 cases were filed in federal courts, compared to 111 filings in the first half of 2005, says a report released by the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, in cooperation with Cornerstone Research. Researchers attribute the decline to the passage of time since the 2000 stock market bust, which fueled many fraud allegations, and the lower level of market volatility in 2005.