There ain’t gonna be much today! Month end duties call, with a shrill, unpleasant voice.<\/p>\n
However, remember Springfield, MA’s complaint against Merrill Lynch, discussed here on January 4<\/a>. They’ve settled … and a certain amount of vital information – previously ignored by the media – has finally been reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n Merrill and two of its brokers sold “unsuitable” securities to Springfield last year after the firm was hired to help manage the city’s short-term investments, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said in a complaint filed today. Why it has not previously been reported that Merrill was acting as Portfolio Manager for the city and therefore had a fiduciary obligation (which would not have been the case if they had simply sold it on a principal to principal basis) is something that I don’t understand.<\/p>\n Given my usual month-end woes, there will be no report on the indices today, which is too bad. It was a really strong day! Volume picked up a little, but not to any spectacular extent.<\/p>\n\n
\n…<\/strong>
\n“Merrill was supposed to invest in only safe money-market like investments,” Galvin said in the lawsuit.
\n…<\/strong>
\nMerrill, the world’s largest brokerage, bought CDOs for Springfield between April and June last year after it was hired to help manage the city’s cash. It didn’t give the city a detailed description of the investment until November, when it sent officials a private placement memorandum on Centre Square CDO, one of the series of securities it bought.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n