American Stores Co. said it had agreed...

American Stores Co. said it had agreed with federal regulators not buy any shares of Lucky Stores Inc. until Saturday. A 10-day waiting period following filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of American’s $2.5-billion buyout bid for Lucky, the country’s sixth-largest grocery retailer, expired Wednesday. However, the Federal Trade Commission asked the Salt Lake City-based American, the nation’s third-largest grocery chain, not to purchase any shares of Dublin, Calif.-based Lucky stock until after 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday so federal regulators would review any possible antitrust implications of the merger.