IN BRIEF: Merrill confirms jobs cutback

Merrill Lynch confirmed it was cutting 180 jobs worldwide from its debt and equity division. A spokesman said there would be about 20 redundancies in Europe with the bulk of these coming from the UK.

Meanwhile, Merrill and Lazard Freres have reached a joint settlement with the District of Columbia related to a series of swaps provided to the district in 1991 and 1992. The settlement included a $3.6m joint payment to the district.