Merrill Lynch

Double-Dip Recession Fears Fade; Investors See Brighter Corporate Profits on Horizon - Shift from Cash to Equities

NEW YORK and LONDON, Oct. 14 -- Investors' risk appetite has reached its highest point in more than three years amid continued optimism about the prospects for a global economic recovery and rising corporate profits, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for October.

Investors are increasingly confident that the threat of a double-dip recession is waning. A net 65 percent of respondents believe a global recession is unlikely in the next 12 months, up from 47 percent a month earlier. A net 72 percent of respondents believe the outlook for corporate profits will improve in the next year, up from 68 percent a month earlier.    » read more »

Average Net Worth of Hong Kong HNWIs Remains Highest in the Region

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 -- Asia Pacific's population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs)(1) fell 14.2% to 2.4 million in 2008 amid a global economic downturn and market volatility, according to the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report released today by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini. The combined wealth of the region's HNWIs dropped 22.3% to US$7.4 trillion.

Ultra-HNWIs, or individuals with investable assets of at least US$30 million, witnessed steeper wealth erosion than the HNWI population in the region. The number of ultra-HNWIs in Asia Pacific fell 29.6% to 14,300 and their total wealth shrank 35.1%.

China and India to Lead Growth in Asia Pacific HNWI Wealth    » read more »

August 31, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - A federal court in Newark, N.J., denied Schering-Plough Corp. a $473 million refund in connection with two transactions in which Schering-Plough sought to avoid taxation on $690 million in profits it repatriated from offshore subsidiaries into the United States.

In 1991 and 1992, Schering-Plough entered into Strippable Increasing Principal Swaps (STRIPS) transactions created by its financial advisor, Merrill Lynch. These transactions involved interest rate swap agreements with most of the receive legs assigned to Schering-Plough's controlled Swiss subsidiaries. The transactions were designed to bring previously untaxed profits made by Schering-Plough's foreign subsidiaries into the United States without paying the tax owed on repatriation.    » read more »

Questions over Imbalances in Early Stages of Recovery

NEW YORK and LONDON, Aug. 19 -- Investor optimism about the global economy has soared to its highest level in nearly six years, with portfolio managers putting their cash back into equity markets, according to the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for August.

A net 75 percent of survey respondents believe the world economy will strengthen in the coming 12 months, the highest reading since November 2003 and up from 63 percent in July. Confidence about corporate health is at its highest since January 2004. A net 70 percent of the panel respondents expect global corporate profits to rise in the coming year, up from 51 percent last month.    » read more »

Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey Finds Economic Recovery Remains on Track Despite Bond Market Sell-Off; Investors ruling out “double-dip” recession as they embrace equities

NEW YORK AND LONDON – The upturn in global investor sentiment has withstood the recent large sell-off in bonds, according to the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for June. Investors have expressed confidence in global economic recovery and, broadly, in the equity markets, in spite of their fears the sell-off would damage sentiment. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose to 3.85 percent from 3.09 percent between the May and June surveys.    » read more »

NEW YORK, June 8 -- Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management led all financial services firms on Barron's "Top 100 Women Financial Advisors" list again this year, with 35 in the rankings (including Banc of America Investment Services).

Among the top 10 were Saly Glassman of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, Lorna Meyer of San Francisco, California, Melissa Harrison of Denver, Colorado, and Debbie Jorgensen of San Francisco, California.    » read more »

Signs of Exuberance Appear in Rush to Emerging Markets

NEW YORK and LONDON, May 20 -- Bullishness in global markets has reached new heights with seven out of 10 investors who predict the world economy will improve in the next twelve months, according to the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for May.    » read more »

Earnings Exceed All of 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 20 -- Bank of America Corporation today reported first-quarter 2009 net income of $4.2 billion. After preferred dividends, including $402 million paid to the U.S. government, diluted earnings per share were $0.44.

Those results compared with net income of $1.2 billion, or diluted earnings per share of $0.23 after preferred dividends, during the same period last year.    » read more »

Global economic optimism at highest since 2004

NEW YORK and LONDON, April 16 -- Risk appetite has started to pick up on the back of improving global economic sentiment, according to the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for April. Optimism about growth has reached its highest level since early 2004. A net 26 percent of respondents say the global economy will strengthen in the next 12 months, up sharply from negative 24 percent in January.    » read more »

March 20, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Change to Win called on Congress today to amend the critical tax legislation to recover the unwarranted and outrageous bonuses to failing managers of AIG and other bailout recipients to include the $3.6 billion in bonuses Bank of America allowed Merrill Lynch to secretly pay in advance of its merger.

“The Merrill Lynch bonus pool is one of the most egregious bonus fiascos on Wall Street,” said Change to Win chair Anna Burger. “American taxpayers are tired of repeatedly seeing corporate excess rewarded, but adding insult to injury, they are now being asked to reward corporate failure. Enough is enough.”    » read more »

Fear over Banks Holds Back Equity Recovery

NEW YORK and LONDON, March 18 -- Investors are at their most optimistic about the global economy since December 2005, according to the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for March. However, the prolonged banking crisis seems to be stopping them from putting cash into equities.

For the first time in more than three years, investors do not predict lower global economic growth over the next 12 months. Renewed optimism about China's economy lies at the heart of this revival. Just two months ago, a net 70 percent of respondents thought China's economy would worsen in the year ahead. That figure fell to a net 1 percent this month.    » read more »

March 4, 2009 -- According to Reuters, the 10 highest-paid employees at Merrill Lynch were paid a total of $209 million in cash and stock in 2008. To save you some difficult math, that amounts to an average of $20,900,000 per person per year.

Let's break that down to an hourly wage, shall we? $20,900,000 / 365 / 12 = $4,771.69 per hour, assuming every one of those top ten earners at Merrill Lynch & Co worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for the entire year (not counting February 29th. Leap year, after all). Which of course they didn't.

A more logical way to break it down would be to look at an industry average of 260 workdays per year. Let's also assume that these guys work hard, but not 12 hours a day hard. How about ten?

That gives us:    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Jan. 30, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. and two of its former investment adviser representatives with securities laws violations for misleading pension consulting clients about its money manager identification process and failing to disclose conflicts of interest when recommending them to use two of the firm's affiliated services. Merrill Lynch has agreed to settle the SEC's charges and pay a $1 million penalty.    » read more »

New Orleans, La., Sept. 18, 2007 – Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) Chief Financial Officer Leo Denault plans to provide a presentation Wed., Sept. 26 at the Merrill Lynch Power & Gas Leaders Conference at the Merrill Lynch Headquarters in New York. The panel presentation is expected to start at approximately 7:45 a.m. EDT. A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available on the Investor Relations section of Entergy’s corporate Web site at www.entergy.com. A replay of the webcast will be available later that day and archived on the Web site for approximately 14 days.    » read more »

GLENDALE, Calif., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (NYSE: DWA) announced today that Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation's CEO, is scheduled to participate in the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment Conference being held September 17-18, 2007 at the Ritz Carlton Marina Del Ray Hotel in Marina Del Ray, CA. Mr. Katzenberg is expected to present tomorrow, Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 8:00 a.m. PDT/11:00 a.m. EDT.

An audio webcast of the presentation will be available at the company's website at DreamWorksAnimation.com.

About DreamWorks Animation SKG    » read more »