[Am-info] Microsoft and Merrill Lynch

[John Poltorak]

On Sun, May 05, 2002 at 12:24:56PM -0400, John J. Urbaniak wrote:
> 
> 
> John Poltorak wrote:
> 
> > Is there a close tie up between Microsoft and Merrill Lynch?
> >
> > ISTR an article in the last couple of weeks where the sudden rise of
> > Microsoft stock price after the announcement of disappointing results
> > could be attributed to comments made by Merrill Lynch.
> 
> This is absolutely true.  I watched CNBC.  After the market closed, I
> think it was April 17 (give or take a day), Microsoft announced earnings
> which came in 2 cents *below* estimates.  I watched the ticker tape for
> after hours trading.  MSFT plummetted, down $1, then $2, then ... then
> over $4.50 to about $51 per share.
> 
> Then some "analyst" from Merrill announced that ~if you exclude X-Box
> losses and certain MS investment losses, the company actually did pretty
> well.~  They rated MSFT a "strong buy" and predicted the stock would
> reach $65.00
> 
> The stock turned around and by the next morning, it was actually *up*
> about 50 cents from the official close the day before.
> 
> A week or so later, Goldman Sachs rated Merrill a "strong buy."  I
> thought that was interesting.
> 
> MSFT closed Friday at $49.50.
> 
> Remember, Merrill Lynch is under intense scrutiny by Elliott(SP?) Spitzer
> for what I call "analyst manipulation."  

Is this investigation documented anywhere?

> Spitzer is the AG for New York
> State.  He actually has e-Mails indicating that Merrill "analysts" were
> recommending stock buys to their customers, while at the same time
> telling other analysts that the stocks they were recommending were dogs.
> Spitzer is negotiating with Merrill execs.  I imagine the whole thing
> will end up buried somehow.

I can't help thinking that Microsoft is at the heart of a massive 
corruption scandal which would devastate the US economy if the whole story 
ever got out, that's why everyone seems to go along with covering things 
up...Kind of reminds me of Robert Maxwell in the UK who everyone accused 
of being a big crook, but only after he died. Before that, no one dared to  
cast aspertions about his character. 

> Look around the dates I mentioned above.

Actually, the best link was from you on this list at the time. I just 
found it in the archive. 
 
> John


-- 
John