The Failure Fund

Of all the new investment deals being hawked about Wall Street, none is stranger than a mutual fund that was put on the market last week by Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., the nation's largest brokerage firm. Most professional money managers, Merrill Lynch's included, have been sensibly enough urging investors anxious to take a fling in the market to put their money into stocks of blue-chip companies. But Merrill Lynch brokers now have a way to help investors who hate following the crowd and do not mind a risk or two. They can simply buy shares, at $10 each, in the...