Last spring E-Trade, whose supermarket is still tiny, disquieted higher-cost rivals by announcing it would rebate up to half of the 12b-1 marketing fees (a component of some expense ratios) and other supermarket charges to customers.

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This includes ensuring that some victims do not receive or retain gains at the expense of other victims.

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Regulators are looking into whether exchanges, in a rush to gain the business of high-frequency firms, have provided advantages to some sophisticated trading firms that allow them to trade profitably at the expense of other investors, according to people familiar with the continuing probes.

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"If we can help with that one largest expense, it can free up money so they can take care of some of those other things like food and clothing, " he said.

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Some European variants have done better, but the benefits they confer on their participants may come at the expense of other job-seekers.

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