SEC Chairman David S. Ruder said the...

SEC Chairman David S. Ruder said the commission will look into whether speculation fueled by corporate takeovers helped cause last month’s stock market crash. “A number of public commentators have suggested that takeover stocks and the takeover phenomenon contributed to the market break. . . . We plan to examine a number of takeover-related questions,” Ruder said in a speech to the American Corporate Counsel Assn. Specifically, Ruder said the Securities and Exchange Commission will seek to determine if stocks of companies that have been targeted for takeover dropped more than other stocks in the Oct. 19 crash.