“Merrill Lynch & Co. and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer early Tuesday reached a long awaited agreement to settle charges that the big Wall Street firm misled investors with overly optimistic research on investment banking clients, people close to the matter said,” writes Charles Gasparino in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“The terms of the settlement will be announced later Tuesday.”

“Neither Merrill nor a spokesman for Mr. Spitzer would comment immediately.”

“The agreement was reached after hours of intense negotiations on Monday. At one point, Merrill had agreed to pay a fine of close to $100 million, no longer pay analysts directly for work on investment banking deals, and make a statement of contrition for its research, people close to the matter said. It’s unclear if the final deal will reflect all those conditions, however.”