Also. . .

* Two scrap-metal dealers have sued Sumitomo Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. in the latest legal skirmish since a 1996 copper-trading scandal that led to government probes and billions of dollars in losses. Los Angeles Scrap Iron & Metal Corp. of Los Angeles and Loeb Industries Inc. in Watertown, Wis., said in a federal lawsuit that they and other copper buyers lost millions because Sumitomo, Merrill and Global Minerals & Metals Corp. hoarded metal in a conspiracy to drive up prices. Merrill and Global denied the charges. The suit, which seeks class-action status, comes a month after the government sued Merrill and Global.