Friday Afternoon Business Brief

Stocks have been trading in a narrow range on Wall Street, with the major indexes wavering between small gains and losses. The S&P 500 remains on track for a seventh straight week of gains.

• The New York Times reports federal regulators have opened an insider trading inquiry into the $23 billion acquisition of H.J. Heinz. The newspaper cites an unnamed source who was briefed on the matter as saying the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at a suspicious spike trading on Wednesday before announcement of the deal for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital to buy Heinz.
• Shares in Herbalife have been surging today after a regulatory filing revealed that Carl Icahn has taken a 13 percent stake in the company. Icahn has been engaged in a public feud over the supplement company with Pershing Square Capital Management's William Ackman. Ackman calls Herbalife a pyramid scheme and has bet that the company's stock price will fall.
• The pension fund for New York City schoolteachers sold its stock in companies that make guns and ammunition. City officials say the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., prompted the fund's board of trustees to review its investments in the gun industry. The fund had a total of $13.5 million invested in five gun makers including Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. and Sturm, Ruger & Co.
• Tom Horton won't get to lead the new American Airlines after it merges with US Airways, but he's getting a nearly $20 million severance package. American's parent company, AMR Corp., disclosed the details in a regulatory filing. Horton will get nearly $10 million in cash and an equal amount in stock in the new company.