FreeBeer wrote:QUOTE (FreeBeer @ May 22 2012, 08:08 PM) And let's not say anything about the underwriters' downgrading their earnings mid-IPO frenzy, but only telling their top tier clients. This one's gonna be fun.
germloucks wrote:QUOTE (germloucks @ May 23 2012, 03:23 AM) Havent seen mention of the Exchange's software problems that forced everyone to trade those shares on paper until after 2pm. Also, some companies subsequently noticed that the number of shares they bought didnt match what they had in their books.
While I know how much fun it is to demonize any aspect of the financial industry I don't think that anyone will be found guilty in either of these cases. In the case of the supposed "insider analyst report" there doesn't appear to be anything there as of now. From what I understand Facebook released updated estimates just prior to the IPO. The information was disseminated to all of our clients. That is assuming I don't advise ALL of Morgan Stanley's largest clients; which I'm pretty sure I don't. So either there's information I am still not aware of pertaining to the IPO or the information given to me I the late stages of the process that I forwarded on to my clients is the same information the press is talking about. Believe me, when I first heard the story I was livid at my own firm. That's the response the story was intended to generate. As more facts about it come out the more it seems to me there's nothing there. It's just how the process works. I will reserve judgement until any investigation concludes. At the end of the day, I won't be surprised to see firms paying a settlement, but I wouldn't read that as an admission of guilt. It's almost always cheaper to just pay than to defend yourself.... not to mention that paying prevents your name from being in the headlines for months on end.
As to the Nasdaq issue. It appears to me they are doing everything possible to make it right. They are only on the hook for the monthly limit of $3 million in damages due to the fact that the issue was technological. They have requested that the limit be waived so they can pay more than what they are legally required in order to make investors whole for the glitch. I've received numerous communications from the exchange and the firm describing the process they are using to match trades that didn't go through correctly. With the volume of trades involved and the manual nature of the fix it will take awhile to work through it.
All in all I think the media has jumped the shark by trying to create villains and victims in this case. They even had me going for awhile yesterday and I have most of this information at my fingertips.
Edit - stupid iPhone auto correct