SECURITIES

Mutual Fund Brokerage Agrees to Settlement: Piper Jaffray Cos. agreed to pay $70 million to settle a large lawsuit resulting from a bond fund’s failed investment in exotic securities called mortgage derivatives. The settlement is one of the largest to result from huge losses several mutual funds suffered last year from investments in the category of securities known as derivatives. After news of the settlement, Piper stock rose $1.625, or 14.6%, to close at $12.75 per share on the New York Stock Exchange. The Piper lawsuit, filed last year against the Minneapolis-based firm’s Institutional Government Income Portfolio, charged that the firm misled investors in mutual fund disclosure statements about the fund’s volatility.