Ticker Talk

Staples Inc. (SPLS) filed with the SEC on Friday to raise as much as $250 million by selling stock tracking the performance of its online retail business, Bloomberg News reported. Staples.com provides an electronic marketplace where businesses can buy office products and services. Staples shares lost 94 cents to $22.94. . . . Mutual fund investors, let down by the performance so far this year of funds that track the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, are flocking to small capitalization and biotechnology funds, Reuters reported. New figures from fund tracker Lipper Inc., a unit of information group Reuters Group, show that assets in S&P; 500 funds in January fell to $232.1 billion from $241.6 billion the previous month, while small-cap funds grew to $59.4 billion from $58.3 billion. Biotech funds grew to $30 billion from $25.6 billion in the same period, and funds in the mid-cap range have also grown.