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Technology Stocks : PairGain Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robet Butkus who wrote (18103)	12/24/1997 11:26:00 AM
From: ENOTS	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 36349

To all on the thread, here is your Christmas present from the NASDAQ TRADERS...... Merrill seen paying $100 mln in settlement - WSJ NEW YORK, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch , the biggest U.S. brokerage firm, is expected to pay $100 million under a settlement of a class action suit over price fixing in Nasdaq stocks, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. As many as 32 securities firms that are Nasdaq dealers are preparing to announce the settlement as soon as today, the newspaper said in its Heard on the Street column. The settlement could cost the firms, many of which are publicly traded themselves, as much as $1 billion, the newspaper said. The lawsuit, filed in May 1994 and granted class-action status last November, alleges that more than 30 of Nasdaq's market makers conspired with one another by agreeing to keep an overly wide "spread" between the prices at which they bought and sold 1,659 Nasdaq stocks. Spreads are the difference between the price at which the Nasdaq market makers are willing to buy a stock and the price at which they will sell. The wider the spread, the bigger the profit for the market-maker. The alleged price fixing boosted traders' profits and investors were overcharged unnecessary trading costs between May 1989 and May 1994, the suit alleges. The Journal, quoting people familiar with the settlement plans, said that the firms agreed to payouts based on their share of Nasdaq trading while denying any wrongdoing. Merrill and the other firms will be able to spread the payments over several quarters becasue the bulk of the money is not due until the second half of 1998, the newspaper said. It said, quoting analysts, that the firms likely to feel the biggest pinch are smaller ones that are more dependent on trading of Nasdaq stocks. It cited as an example Hambrecht & Quist Group, a publicly traded firm based in San Francisco, which would have to pay almost $20 million. That would amount to more than $0.75 a share for the firm, which is forecast to earn $1.90 a share in fiscal 1998. H&Q's share of the settlement would amount to eight percent of the firm's book value. In contrast, a $100 million payment by Merrill would represent one percent of Merrill's book value, it said, quoting an analyst. The newspaper noted that until now, brokerage-company stocks have been among the year's hottest, up almost 71 percent for 1997. But since the newspaper reported the planned settlement last Friday, the Dow Jones U.S. securities-brokers industry group has slipped 3.6 percent, it said. Among the issues still in dispute was whether all the firms would be on board for the settlement and who would foot the bill for the now-defunct Shearson brokerage firm. It said Shearson's previous owner, Lehman Brothers Holdings, and its current owner, the Salomon Smith Barney unit of Travelers Group, were still tussling over the $18 million obligation assigned to Shearson. --((New York Newsdesk 212 859-1610)) ANYBODY THINK THEY ARE NOT CROOKS, STAND UP!!!!!!!!!!! PSS...HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THE INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS WILL RECOUP????CLOSE YOUR EYES,WHAT DO YOU SEE? THAT IS THE AMOUNT!!!