JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. were among 18 financial firms that agreed to stop participating in some surveys of analyst sentiment while New York investigates early access to the information.

The firms will stop answering analyst surveys by "certain elite, technologically sophisticated clients" seeking to use the information for trading, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The interim pacts are part of efforts to combat advantages secured by investors that get to see potentially market-moving data before other traders.

Schneiderman requested that the firms stop participating in these surveys while he conducts an industrywide investigation into early access to analyst sentiment. The deals follow an accord last month with BlackRock Inc., the world's largest asset manager, to end a program in which it systematically surveyed analysts on companies they cover.