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State Street Research of Boston has begun an investment education program for Spanish- and Chinese-speaking Americans. The effort includes distributing bilingual mutual fund prospectuses and Spanish- and Chinese-language educational brochures and providing bilingual customer service support. Beginning in June, State Street Research will run websites in Chinese and Spanish.

E*Trade of Palo Alto, Calif. plans to offer the E*Trade Technology Index Fund. The fund will track the Goldman Sachs Technology Index, which currently consists of 169 technology stocks. E*Trade filed a registration statement for the new fund with the SEC on May 24.

Pilgrim America Capital Corp. of Phoenix, Ariz., has closed on its acquisition of the 11 retail Nicholas-Applegate Mutual Funds of San Diego, Calif. The funds were purchased for $24 million.

ND Holdings of Minot, N.D., acquired the Lancaster Nebraska Tax-Free Fund and merged it into the Nebraska Municipal Fund on May 24. The Lancaster Nebraska Tax-Free Fund had assets of $13 million, and these were merged with Nebraska Municipal Fund's $28 million of assets, bringing the fund's total assets to $41 million. ND Holdings bought the fund from Smith Hayes Financial Services Corp. of Lincoln, Neb.

E*Trade Group of Palo Alto, Calif., filed a registration statement last week with the SEC to introduce two new index funds - the E*Trade Extended Market Index and the E*Trade Aggregate Bond Index. E*Trade introduced its first index fund, the E*Trade S&P 500 Index Fund, earlier this year.

Lawyers are scheduled to appear in a Boston court Friday to argue over whether James D. McCall, a portfolio manager at Pilgrim Baxter & Associates, should be allowed to leave the firm and join Merrill Lynch & Co.

The number of mutual funds operated by religious groups has risen dramatically in the past five years, and more are expected to be introduced to meet the demand of consumers who seek to align their investing with their beliefs.

New York Life Benefit Services does not care how old its customers are.

Bankers Trust Company of New York will introduce the BT Pyramid International Developed Markets Fund in June for its retirement plan customers. The fund will invest in developed markets outside of the U.S.

Newport Fund Management of San Francisco has introduced the Newport Asia Pacific Fund which will invest in companies throughout Asia. The fund will be co-managed by David Smith and Christopher Legallet. Smith will concentrate on Japan while Legallet will focus on all other countries in the Pacific Rim.

The SEC last week fined Datek Online Brokerage Services Corp. of Iselin, N.J. $50,000 for failing to segregate customer funds and for books and records violations. Datek's former chief financial officer, Moishe Zelcer, was fined $10,000 in the case, which was filed May 18. Datek and Zelcer agreed to the fine and other sanctions without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. The SEC said that on 12 occasions this spring, Datek used customer funds to meet the firm's obligations.

Both Credit Suisse Asset Management and Merrill Lynch have chosen 401(k) partners to give Internet-based investment advice and guidance to participants of 401(k) plans for which Merrill and Credit Suisse provide management services.

Eaton Vance of Boston has been given a green light by the SEC chief accountant's office to install a .70 percent 12b-1 "equivalent" distribution program on two of its four senior prime rate bank loan interval funds. The approval was effective May 1.

A raft of Congressional legislation aimed at boosting savings for retirement by Americans has captured the interest of mutual fund companies who see the changes as a potential boon to their assets.

Vestek, an investment research company of San Francisco, is trying to convince mutual funds that they can build their distribution with innovative research to give their brokers.

The National Securities Clearing Corp. is in the initial stages of creating an offshoot that will service independent financial advisors. The new arm plans to computerize mutual fund processing for these independent planners who still do fund processing by mail. The venture is so new, however, a name has not yet been decided upon. The NSCC board of directors approved the creation of the new group in December.

Mutual fund companies have until December 1999 to create simplified prospectuses so they and the SEC's Division of Investment Management have their hands full with that task until at least then.

While some mutual fund managers believe market timers frequently run amok, one group of registered investment advisors who call themselves timers are willingly setting their own limits on moving assets in and out of mutual funds.

Alleghany Asset Management of Chicago has purchased Blairlogie Capital Management from Pimco Advisors of Newport Beach, Calif. Blairlogie, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, manages $890 million in assets, primarily in non-U.S. equities. Stuart Bilton, president of Alleghany, said the purchase of Blairlogie gives his firm international investing expertise.

The Depository Trust Company and the National Securities Clearing Corporation plan to merge. DTC and NSCC made the decision after nine months of discussion between their boards and management teams.