BUSINESS NOTES.

INTEL, MICROSOFT ENDORSE `DUMB' COMPUTERS: Intel, the biggest maker of microprocessor chips, and Microsoft, the No. 1 PC software maker, said Wednesday that they developed a set of common technical standards to help manufacturers build the so-called ``Net PCs.''

The computers, expected to go on sale this summer, are cheaper for businesses to maintain than personal computers because they would download software via the Internet.

The Intel-Microsoft initiative to sell pared-down computers may seem incongruous with their goals to get people to buy increasingly sophisticated products stuffed with their latest technology.

But the aim is to protect against rivals' encroachments: Sun Microsystems Inc. is promoting far more bare-bones computers to cut corporate computing costs.

MASTERCARD CEO RESIGNS: In a surprise move, H. Eugene Lockhart resigned Wednesday to take a newly created post as president of BankAmerica Corp.'s global retail bank.

For the first time in its 30 years of existence, MasterCard elevated an insider, Robert Selander, to head the company. Selander, 46, had been president of MasterCard's operations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

INSURANCE BROKERS MERGE: Marsh & McLennan Cos. agreed to buy privately owned Johnson & Higgins for $1.8 billion in cash and stock in a deal that would reinstate Marsh as the world's biggest insurance broker.

The announcement Wednesday marks a further consolidation in the insurance brokerage business, which is in a slump. Premiums, which form the basis for brokerage commissions, have softened, and investors have become increasingly interested in buying investment products rather than insurance.

AOL SUED FOR BAD STOCK PRICES: Ben Ezra Weinstein and Co. said it sued America Online Inc. for reporting inaccurate stock prices on its network.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based company alleged AOL did nothing to correct a software error that showed its stock price at one-tenth its true value, while multiplying the number of shares traded, even after repeated phone calls. It said AOL knew a problem existed for weeks.