Merrill Probed on Auction Securities

SAN FRANCISCO -- Merrill Lynch & Co. said on Tuesday that government agencies have asked the brokerage firm for information about the failure of the auction-rate securities market earlier this year and that it is cooperating with the investigations, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Auction-rate debt carries yields similar to long-term debt but acts like short-term investments because investors can sell at weekly or monthly auctions, when rates reset. The $330 billion market was used a lot by municipalities to borrow money, but it collapsed earlier this year, sending yields on some auction-rate securities soaring, the paper reported.

Several regulators have launched investigations into why the market failed, the paper reported.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 5/6/08