Topic: Growth Stocks

The Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, September 19, 2008

Article Excerpt

Today’s rebound in the market is reassuring, but I expect stocks to remain highly volatile for a month or more. After that, we could see a six-month rebound in prices. The U.S. bailout of major financial institutions raises inflation risk over the next few years, but it heads off panic. Nobody can predict market bottoms, but I suspect we are much closer to the bottom than the top. BANK OF AMERICA CORP. $37.48, New York symbol BAC, has agreed to acquire troubled brokerage firm Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (New York symbol MER). Based on current prices, Bank of America will pay about $49 billion in stock. That’s equal to 29% of its market cap of $170.9 billion. The addition of Merrill will greatly expand Bank of America’s retail brokerage and wealth management operations. Including Merrill’s 16,000 brokers, the merged company will be the world’s largest brokerage firm, with 20,000 brokers and $2.5 trillion in assets under management. Bank of America…