Merrill, Citigroup Made Bigger Bets in Quarter

Merrill Lynch & Co., the biggest U.S. securities firm, and Citigroup Inc., the world’s biggest financial services company, put more of their money at risk during the first quarter to boost trading revenue.

Both New York-based companies took bigger bets in the bond and stock markets in the quarter as they sought to benefit from low interest rates and an improvement in equity markets, they said in quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

The firms’ earnings benefited. Citigroup’s global investment banking unit’s profit jumped 23% from a year earlier, and Merrill’s first-quarter earnings almost doubled.