As stockmarket indices return to lev-els last seen in 2001, many investors are able to put the bear market comfortably behind them. Not so equity analysts working for investment banks, who are still feeling the after-effects—and things may be about to get worse. Analysts, especially in the United States, were widely blamed for plugging initial public offerings (IPOS) of telecoms and dotcom companies, even those they privately derided. Wall Street banks reached an expensive settlement with American regulators in April 2003, and were forced to change the way they ran their businesses—among other things, by preventing investment bankers from directly influencing analysts'pay.
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