61.   In Western Natural Gas futures, prices rose on short-covering as the October contract expired, said Jim Duffy, Kansas City branch manager for Gerald Energy.

62.   Investors were also looking to a two-day meeting of Bank of Japan branch managers starting in Tokyo today.

63.   Janet Ramsey, a MetLife branch manager in North Carolina, said she had wanted to become a regional manager in Pennsylvania.

64.   Japanese bonds were little changed as investors eyed a meeting of Bank of Japan branch managers for reassurance that monetary authorities will leave interest rates unchanged.

65.   Lawyers involved in the suits say they are looking into whether branch managers had incentives to persuade their employees to sign up.

66.   Matsushita was speaking at a two-day meeting of Bank of Japan branch managers.

67.   Matsushita made the comments in a speech as the bank started a two-day quarterly meeting of branch managers.

68.   Matsushita delivered his speech at the start of a two-day quarterly meeting of central bank branch managers.

69.   Officials at Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney said their compensation of branch managers was not affected by proprietary sales.

70.   Nowadays, the former Sumitomo Bank branch manager mostly huddles with other bankers.