SECURITIES

SEC Chief Will Leave by April 15: SEC Chairman Richard C. Breeden, who presided over a three-year expansion of the Wall Street watchdog and its authority, said he plans to resign by April 15. After weeks of coyly deflecting questions about when he would be leaving, Breeden, 43, issued a statement saying he would return to the private sector “not later than April 15, unless a successor is in place sooner.” Breeden, a Republican who was appointed by President Bush, has headed the agency since October, 1989.