Business briefs

Sec settles

The SEC is paying $580,000 to settle a lawsuit by a former assistant SEC inspector general who accused the agency of firing him in retaliation for bringing possible misconduct to light.

Facebook up

Facebook gained as much as 5.6 percent amid speculation that it may be added to the S&P 500 Index. Shares rose 4.5 percent to $24.33 at close in NY.

1211 stake

Ivanhoe Cambridge and Callahan Capital Partners have agreed to purchase 49% of 1211 Ave. of the Americas. The deal values the building where News Corp. is headquartered at about $1.75 billion, sources said.

Options fine

An SEC judge has ordered optionsXpress, its former CFO and a customer to pay a total of $4.8 million in fines and to return $4.2 million for illegally selling shares they didn’t hold.

Bought out

Blackstone Group, which has spent $5 billion to acquire almost 30,000 single-family US houses, is nearing the later stages of its buying as home prices jump, said the firm’s global head of real estate.