Merrill to Distribute Morningstar Research

Merrill Lynch & Co. in July will provide stock research to U.S. customers from Morningstar Inc. and BNY Jaywalk as part of a regulatory agreement to supplement its analysts’ reports with two sources of independent research.

Merrill, the largest U.S. brokerage firm, is the fourth of 10 firms in last year’s $1.4-billion regulatory settlement over biased research to announce its plans for independent reports. Bear Stearns Cos., Lehman Bros. and UBS earlier said they had signed contracts with BNY Jaywalk.

Morningstar, known for its ratings of mutual funds, will provide fundamental analysis for more than 95% of the approximately 1,000 stocks covered by analysts at the biggest brokerage firm, Merrill Executive Vice President Bob McCann wrote in an internal memo.