SmithBarney – Still Having Problems

Hi All,

So I logged onto my account at Smith Barney this evening and guess what I saw…

“Important Information regarding Citigroup Investment Research. This data is for informational purposes only and should not be used to make a decision to buy or sell a security or mutual fund.

As your agreement for the receipt and use of market data provides, the securities markets (1) reserve all rights to the market data that they make available; (2) do not guarantee that data; and (3) shall not be liable for any loss due either to their negligence or to any cause beyond their reasonable control.”

I found it hilarious. If you can’t use use company investing research for the purposes of buying and selling investments, what are you supposed to use it for? Wall decoration? Scrap paper?

In all fairness, they’re saying this because Citigroup is farming out a lot of their research, but if they don’t want to stand behind it, why even bother putting it on the webpage?

This statement is brought to you from the same people that back in 2001 were pumping tech stocks publicly when the privately they though they were junk (1). Yes, back in 2001 Citigroup was also in bed with corrupt companies like the now defunct WorldCom, where they took money in return for touting the company’s stock (1), even when in the case of WorldCom the companies were in fact guilty of lying to investors to hide colossal losses.

Needless to say, I don’t recommend SmithBarney for your investments.

Best,

James