odd-lot

The proposed class action filed on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan said the banks have since August 2006 violated antitrust law by overcharging investors on “odd-lot” trades, which are worth less than $1 million and comprise 90% of all corporate bond trading.

It added that odd-lot spreads are narrower even in foreign bond markets with lower volumes and liquidity.

The investors are led by Isabel Litovich, a San Juan, Puerto Rico, resident who said the collusion resulted in overcharges on odd-lot bond trades through her Morgan Stanley account.

According to the 81-page complaint, the banks leveraged their power from handling more than two-thirds of U.S. corporate bond underwriting to quietly inflate spreads between the prices where they would buy and sell odd-lot bonds.

Although passersby occasionally ask if he bought his exterior paint at an odd-lot fire sale, he says he carefully chose the four pastels — mint green, soft orange, periwinkle and yellow — in the seemingly random arrangement of large squares in, yes, again, Takoma Park.