Merrill Lynch internet equity analysts maintained &quotbuy&quot recommendations on stocks they were simultaneously describing as &quotjunk&quot and &quotcrap&quot in internal emails, according to a court order from the New York State attorney general's office.

The court order follows an investigation by Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, into equity research at Merrill during the technology boom. Presenting the order, Spitzer added to pressure on the banking industry to change.