Study finds 'crisis of confidence' on Wall Street
15 Jun 2002
An analysis of buy, sell, and hold ratings published for 19 listed companies that went bankrupt in the first four months of 2002 by 50 investment banking and brokerage firms found that "94% of the 50 firms continued to recommend that investors should buy or hold shares in failing companies right up to the day these companies filed for bankruptcy".
The study concluded: "Investors lack the single most important element they need to help cut through much of the distortions and dislocations discussed in this paper: Clear, full, disclosure of accurate, unbiased, comparable information." Click for Full Study (PDF 250k).