Re: RE: RE: RE: Re: re: profit rates

[ravi <gadfly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

a la michael pugliese ;-):

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http://www.usatoday.com/money/finance/2002-04-19-merrill.htm

No quick deal likely in Merrill Lynch case
By Thor Valdmanis, USA TODAY

NEW YORK -- The dark cloud hanging over the securities industry just got
darker.

Hopes of quickly achieving a final settlement between Merrill Lynch and
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over alleged conflicts of
interest among Merrill research analysts have been dashed because of
arguments about culpability and money, people close to the negotiations say.

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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/107/economy/SEC_considering_whether_to_joi%3A.shtml

SEC considering whether to join probe of conflict of interest
By Michael Gormley, Associated Press, 4/17/2002 13:39

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Federal regulators met with New York Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer on Wednesday to determine whether they should join his
investigation into Wall Street analysts accused of giving positive stock
ratings to companies they were criticizing among themselves.

Securities and Exchange Commission officials were also being briefed by
Spitzer's fraud prosecutors on the status of his investigation into
analysts at Merrill Lynch & Co. and some of its rivals, said a source
familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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http://www.mips1.net/mukfn.nsf/Current/852569CF00506AC142256A87002E1E93?OpenDocument

Merrill Lynch acts to end conflicts of interest
By: Tim Wood

Posted: 2001/07/11 Wed 10:00 ZE2  | © MoneywebUK 1997-2002
NEW YORK - In what amounts to a tacit admission of guilt, global
investment firm Merrill Lynch is to prohibit its analysts from owning
stocks they cover.

The move might be interpreted cynically as a belated response to public
outrage over analysts' inability or unwillingness to deliver accurate
recommendations. Few conflict of interest allegations have been
substantiated, but it is common cause that the Chinese wall between
firms' investment bankers and analysts was demolished during the
listings boom from 1996 to 2000.

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	--ravi