SECURITIES

MCI Lists ‘Quips’ on Nasdaq: MCI Communications Corp. listed $750 million of a hybrid form of debt and equity on the Nasdaq Stock Market, helping the country’s second-largest stock market in its rivalry with the New York Stock Exchange. MCI’s quarterly income preferred securities, or Quips, are the first of their type to trade on Nasdaq, where the Washington-based long-distance telephone firm’s common stock has traded since 1972. Quips are a form of preferred stock, which resembles both common stock and bonds. Preferred stock represents equity in a company, just as common stock does. The shares’ dividends are set at the time of the sale, like bonds’ interest payments. Ten of the issues already trade on the NYSE. Nasdaq sees Quips as a potential growth area.