Fidelity to buy back securities

Fidelity Investments settled a probe of its sales of auction-rate securities, agreeing to buy back $300 million of the instruments seven months after the market for them collapsed, officials of New York state and Massachusetts said.

Fidelity, the world’s largest mutual fund manager, is the first retail broker to settle with the states. Citigroup Inc., UBS, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and five other underwriters settled claims in recent weeks stemming from the broader, nationwide probe of firms that allegedly marketed the securities as being as safe as cash alternatives. The Fidelity accords, only with New York and Massachusetts, apply to securities holders nationwide.