Business Notes INVESTIGATIONS

For at least the past two months, editors at Business Week have been secretly looking for snoops: people who were apparently sneaking an early peek at the magazine's "Inside Wall Street" column in order to make a quick profit by buying stocks mentioned favorably before regular readers could do so. Last week the probe, which has been joined by Government investigators and stockbrokerage officials, finally turned up several suspects.

Merrill Lynch fired William Dillon, 33, a financial consultant in its New London, Conn., office. Prudential Bache dismissed Brian Callahan, 28, a broker in its Anaheim, Calif., branch. Another investment firm, Advest, suspended an unnamed broker in its Hartford office.

The leaks appear to have occurred at plants where Business Week is printed in Old Saybrook, Conn., and Torrance, Calif. Investigators were looking into reports that Dillon had been meeting at breakfast on Thursday mornings with printers coming off the night shift at the Connecticut plant. Dillon may have used the information to buy stocks on Thursday, then sold them at a profit the following Monday. The broker, who could face fraud charges, reportedly admitted to co-workers that his tips came from Business Week, but claimed he was getting an early copy at a newsstand. Investigators are uncertain whether the other brokers were in on the scheme.