Spitzer bombs at analysts’ dinner

New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer braved the wrath of sell-side analysts in person at Institutional Investor’s equity research awards dinner last month. The self-appointed protector of retail investors was the guest speaker. He didn’t pull his punches. He was glad to have been invited, he said, because “I really wanted to put faces to emails”.

It did, at least, get a laugh. He then told his audience that “banks have been using the II awards as a false proxy for stock-picking prowess” when marketing their services to retail investors, yet virtually none of them were good stock pickers.