SECURITIES

Kidder Cash Infusion, Investigation Reported: Kidder Peabody Group Inc. received a $400-million infusion from its parent, General Electric Co., and the brokerage is the subject of a broad new regulatory probe, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Kidder Peabody Group Inc. is on life support,” the article said, adding that the New York Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission are jointly conducting the inquiry into Kidder. The firm is hurting because some key traders have recently departed, the paper said. It attributed the information to an unidentified regulator and unidentified Kidder executives. Michael A. Carpenter, chairman and CEO of Kidder, called the article “inaccurate and grossly misleading.”