SECURITIES

N.Y. Merc Chairman Seeks to Stay: The embattled chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange launched a reelection bid, despite a request by the exchange’s board that he resign. The board asked Lou Guttman to step down as head of the world’s biggest energy futures exchange after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission last week filed civil charges against him. Guttman declined to resign, saying the issue should be decided by the exchange’s membership and not its board. The election will be held March 16. Regulators say Guttman and other traders participated in a scheme in 1989 involving prearranged trades on the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange.