ALSO...

Montgomery Ward & Co. was granted permission by a bankruptcy court to pay $3.9 million in severance to 380 fired employees without waiting for the filing of a reorganization plan. The Chicago-based retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week, had been widely criticized for terminating the workers just before filing for bankruptcy. . . . Philip Fletcher will resign as chief executive of food giant ConAgra Inc. this fall and will be succeeded by Bruce Rohde. . . . A federal judge in San Francisco approved an $86.3-million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and other citric-acid makers who fixed prices on the food additive.