In Business This Week

GE PLUGS A GAP AT KIDDER

Kidder Peabody has cost parent General Electric $200 million this spring. Responding to a story in The Wall Street Journal, Kidder confirmed the capital infusion from its GE Capital subsidiary. The purpose: "to replenish the impact of the Joseph Jett trading scheme," says Dennis D. Dammerman, GE's CFO. Kidder, he says, remains a strong franchise. But skeptics abound. Says Michael Flannagan, analyst at Lipper Analytical Securities: "Kidder's franchise is dissipating."EDITED BY KEITH H. HAMMONDS