Also. . .

Whirlpool Corp. said it will cut 3,200 jobs and take an after-tax charge of $31 million against fourth-quarter earnings in its final step to streamline its Brazilian operations. With the charge, Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool has consolidated its regional position after its recent purchase of 66% voting interest in Brasmotor, a Brazil-based holding company for Latin America’s largest appliance maker. The financial impact of the charge is expected to be $14 million, while the company expects annual savings of $20 million. . . . The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is examining unusual trading activity in the U.S. silver market after speculation that hoarders may have bought as much as $2.7 billion in silver to manipulate the market. The commission intensifies its surveillance efforts when unusual events or activity occurs, as has happened in silver recently, a CFTC spokesman said. . . . The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act has failed to cut the number of shareholder fraud suits as planned, but instead has caused the nature of claims to change, according to a survey by New York-based Price Waterhouse. The study said that while there was an initial drop in the number of cases during 1996 when the law went into effect, the number bounced back last year to 215 cases.