Two cruise ships arriving in port Saturday, Monday

PORTLAND – Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas, with 1,950 passengers, will dock in Portland from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Celebrity Cruises’ ship the Summit, with 2,038 passengers, will dock in Portland from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. Both ships will dock at Ocean Gateway’s Pier 2 Berth 2.

Volatile day on Wall Street sees little change in stocks

NEW YORK – After a volatile day, stocks ended Friday mostly unchanged, as traders weighed a weak jobs report for August and the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Syria.

By the end of the day, the Dow had risen as high as 15,009 and dropped as low as 14,789 — a 220-point range.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose less than a point, or 0.01 percent, to close at 1,655.17. The Dow ended down 14.98 points, or 0.1 percent, at 14,922.50. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.23 points, or 0.03 percent, to 3,660.01.

Even after a bumpy Friday, the S&P 500 index had its best week in two months. The S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent for the week.

Bank of America settles claims of gender bias

NEW YORK – Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay $39 million to settle claims of gender bias by women in its Merrill Lynch brokerage division.

The settlement was announced Friday by law firms representing women working as financial advisers or licensed financial advisers at Banc of America Investment Services Inc. or Merrill Lynch from 2007 through 2013.

Banc of America Investment Services was a brokerage firm owned by Bank of America. It was later folded into Merrill Lynch when Bank of America bought Merrill in 2009.

The lawsuit claims that the bank discriminated against women in compensation and business opportunities. The plaintiffs said women tended to be shut out of teams that worked on the most lucrative accounts, and so their compensation suffered. About 4,800 employees are eligible for the settlement.

Honda says Accord to top fuel-efficient U.S. sedans

LOS ANGELES – Honda Motor Co., the first carmaker to sell hybrids in the United States, said Friday its gasoline-electric Accord will be the most fuel-efficient U.S. sedan when it goes on sale, topping competing Toyota and Ford models.

The 2014 Accord Hybrid gets 50 miles per gallon of gasoline in the city, 45 mpg on the highway and 47 mpg combined, based on U.S. government testing, Honda said. While Ford’s Fusion hybrid is also rated 47 mpg combined, Ford faces lawsuits claiming the car’s mileage is overstated. Toyota’s hybrid Camry averages a combined 41 mpg.

— From staff and news services