P.M. BRIEFING : Program Trading to Be Resumed

Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. said today that it intends to resume program trading for its own account, returning to the market strategy using voluntary curbs proposed recently by the New York Stock Exchange.

Bear Stearns was one of the brokers most active in program trading before a stock market plunge Oct. 13 led most to curtail or stop the trading practice.

Program trading, or index arbitrage in its most widely used form, is the computer-directed buying and selling of stock futures or options and stocks to take advantage of momentary price discrepancies.