Merrill Lynch posts
FeedPosted Jun 23rd 2010 11:20AM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Money and Finance Today, Rich in America, Personal Finance

Well, millionaires of the world, your club has become a bit less elite. The number of millionaires across the globe
rose by an astounding 17% in 2009, according to the 14th annual "World Wealth Report" published by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini SA. That's a lot of wealth in a time of global economic crisis.
But first, what defines a millionaire? No, having a baseball-card collection that
might fetch that kind of a price tag doesn't count (unfortunately). The way the Merrill study defines it is those households with at least $1 million in investable assets,
not including primary residences. There are now 10 million of these households in the world, up from 8.6 million in 2008.
Continue reading Number of World's Millionaires on the Rise
Posted Feb 23rd 2010 10:40AM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Law, Bank of America (BAC)
It all started during the financial crisis. Banks and brokerage houses were tumbling down one after another. One of the biggest was the collapse of Merrill Lynch. Bank of America (BAC) negotiated the purchase of Merrill, but there was one hitch. BofA failed to appraise its stockholders that Merrill had approved $5.8 billion in bonuses to Merrill employees.
The agreement was struck. Everything was kept under the table until the SEC started an investigation into the matter. The SEC is famous for just giving a slap on the wrist to the biggest offenders. In this case the SEC agreed that BofA should pay a measly $33 million fine.
Continue reading Judge Approves 'Half-Baked Justice' SEC Settlement with BofA
Posted Feb 21st 2010 3:10PM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Internet, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Barclays plc ADS (BCS)
The financial crisis, employment market and social media explosion have converged, providing a new level of clarity into what is happening in the world around us. Where was ground zero for this financial catastrophe? Well, according to the LinkedIn blog, five companies have shown the most action: Barclays (BCS), Credit Suisse (CS), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM). Interestingly, Goldman Sachs (GS), among the biggest winners now that we're pulling out from the recession, didn't see as much play.
Continue reading Financial Crisis Didn't Push Bankers from Industry, LinkedIn Reports
Posted Feb 9th 2010 9:20AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: CIT Group (CIT)

Late Monday, the Board of Directors at CIT Group (
CIT) announced that it plans to
repay $750 million of what it terms "high-cost" debt. The first part of this payment will be made Tuesday, totaling $750 million of its $7.5 billion first lien credit facility.
The repayment will come on a pro rata basis among the outstanding tranches, and it will be subject to a 2% payment premium. The company will prepay this debt from its available company cash, which is more than $5 billion.
Continue reading CIT Group to Repay 'High-Cost' Debt
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 12:20PM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, Employees, Bank of America (BAC)
At the height of the financial crisis, Bank of America (BAC) acquired Merrill Lynch for $50 billion. Over the past year, Merrill's ranks have thinned from 18,000 down to 15,000.
Merrill's "thundering herd," as it was once known, was a powerhouse dealing largely with retail customers. Interestingly enough, even with the advent of electronic trading, many wealthy clients prefer to deal directly with a broker. B of A has a big book of 17 million "mass affluent" customers who need advice and services. "Mass affluent" customers are those whose income is between $100,000 and $1 million in investable assets.
Continue reading Job Openings: Bank of America Needs 2,000 More Retail Brokers
Posted Jan 12th 2010 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Aetna Inc (AET), Alcoa Inc (AA), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), KB HOME (KBH), Electronic Arts (ERTS)

Today started out as a down day and it stayed that way. The market tried to recover mid-morning, but that failed. The financial sector was under pressure from guidance and from fears of more reprisals out of Washington D.C. that never seem to go away. The rest of the market pressure was on earnings and a pressure of earnings warnings hitting the stocks.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,626.81 -37.18 (-0.35%)
S&P 500 1,136.21 -10.77 (-0.94%)
Nasdaq 2,282.31 -30.10 (-1.30%)
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst DowngradesContinue reading Closing Bell: Earnings Season's Tough Start (AET, AA, BAC, CVX, ERTS, KBH, HIG)
Posted Dec 10th 2009 11:20AM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Good news
Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) was shot out of a proverbial cannon Thursday morning, gaining more than 5% in the first minute of trading.
Ahead of the opening bell, Merill Lynch/Bank of America upgraded the stock to buy from neutral and lifted its price target by five bucks to $28.
The bank noted that fourth-quarter sales could be better than expected, as recent cold weather trends might send people into the stores looking to supplement their cold-weather wear. (Side note: negative 16 wind chill in Chicago today, and yes, I still love living here).
Continue reading Dick's Sporting Goods scores an upgrade
Posted Oct 5th 2009 10:00AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, Bank of America (BAC)
According to a Wall Street Journal report (subscription required) on Monday, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is set to choose an emergency chief executive officer (CEO) -- just in case Ken Lewis (the current CEO) is forced to step down thanks to legal issues. The decision was in the works before Lewis announced he would retire effective New Year's Eve, but the situation ramped up after New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo hinted that he may file civil charges against Lewis.
Five people comprise the committee that was formed earlier this year, with Bank of America Chairman Walter Massey leading the way. The committee was originally created to respond to concerns raised by U.S. banking regulators, but it has now shifted its focus a bit. The committee will give the choice to the full board for approval, but then the U.S. banking regulators will have to approve the choice, basically allowing the government to hand pick their choice. Once this process runs its course, the plan will then be shuttered until it is needed.
Continue reading Bank of America choosing an 'emergency' chief executive, just in case
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