Commercial Paper

A Maryland investment pool used by local government entities, including school boards, libraries and cities, is seeking to reassure participants that it has nominal exposure to subprime mortgages and other troubled investments. The effort came as a similar investment pool in Florida, once the largest in the U.S., froze assets last week, prompting government entities across the state to scramble to raise cash for payroll and other routine expenditures. The Florida pool halted withdrawals after investors pulled $13 billion last month.

WASHINGTON -- Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday to sell up to $200 million in debt securities.The company plans to sell medium-term notes that mature in nine months to 30 years, the SEC filing said.The company will use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of commercial paper, financing of construction, capital expenditures and for operations, the S-3 shelf registration statement said. A shelf registration allows a company to register securities and sell them from time to time when financing needs arise.

STAMFORD, Conn. - Xerox Corp. said General Electric Co.'s GE Capital agreed yesterday to take over its U.S. equipment-financing business and gave the largest copier company $1 billion in secured financing. Customer financing and administration operations will be run through a joint venture that will be 81 percent owned by GE Capital, Xerox said in a statement. The financing GE Capital agreed to provide is backed by U.S. lease receivables, Xerox said. Xerox had said earlier that it would switch to third-party financing to reduce debt by as much as $11 billion as part of a plan to return to profitability by year's end. Xerox leases 75 percent of the equipment it makes, and about 65 percent of the company's debt comes from its financing business.

If you have some cash in a money-market mutual fund, you're probably disappointed with its current yield of less than 6 percent. Occasionally, you may even wonder whether your principal is safe.Unless you switch to another fund that's better managed or has lower annual expenses, you can't do much to increase your income from a money-market fund. You'll just have to wait until short-term interest rates rise again.But starting next Saturday, you won't have to be so concerned about your fund's safety.

LONGBOAT KEY, Fla. - General Electric Co.'s chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, said yesterday that he sees signs of a recovery at some of the company's more economically sensitive businesses such as plastics and the NBC television network. The company's shares rose 7.2 percent on the news, gaining $2.20 to $32.85, in their biggest one-day gain since September. The world's largest company by market value still expects a profit, excluding some costs, of $1.65 to $1.67 a share this year and at least a 10 percent increase next year, Immelt said at a conference in Florida that was broadcast on the Internet.

In a move to protect investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday voted to tighten investment and disclosure standards for money-market mutual funds.The new standards were designed to make money funds less risky, although the funds already were among the safest investment products. In addition, companies that sell money-market funds will be required to tell investors that the funds are not federally insured.However, some experts said investors could see their money-fund yields decline as a result of restrictions on investing in higher-yielding, but riskier, securities.

NEW YORK -The three major credit rating organizations have placed Altria Group Inc. under review after its Philip Morris USA tobacco unit was ordered to pay $10.1 billion for deceiving customers by advertising "light" cigarettes as less harmful. Illinois Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron issued his verdict Friday, ordering the world's largest cigarette maker to pay $7.1 billion in compensatory damages, $3 billion in punitive damages and requiring it to post a $12 billion bond. Standard & Poor's attributed its review of the company's debt rating to the uncertainty about the amount of the bond Philip Morris would have to put up and the case's final resolution.

MNC Financial Inc., the parent company of Maryland National Bank, announced today that it is continuing negotiations with its syndicate of banks, headed by Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., on the terms of a $750 million credit line.The announcement comes two days after a Dec. 14 deadline that had been set to come up with a new arrangement. No new deadline has been released by MNC. Morgan officials were not available for comment.MNC needs the line of credit from Morgan to continue to pay its bills and to meet debt obligations that are coming due soon.

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The crisis in Orange County is beginning to threaten municipal services, with the water district saying it won't have enough money to pay its bills and school districts faced with closure.The Orange County Water District filed a lawsuit late Friday demanding that the county release $34 million of the district's funds from the county's bankrupt investment pool.The district's move was seen as the biggest challenge to the county since it sought protection from its creditors under Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code on Dec. 6. Shortly before that, the county said its $7.8 billion investment pool had lost at least $1.5 billion by betting the wrong way on interest rates.