Merrill Profit Better Than Expected
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Merrill Lynch & Company reported a smaller-than-expected decline in first quarter profit as gains in trading, investment banking, and brokerage commissions boosted revenue to a record.
Net income dropped to $475 million, or 44 cents a share, from $1.21 billion, or $1.21, a year earlier, after Merrill recorded a charge for accounting changes. Revenue jumped 28% to $7.96 billion. Merrill posted a bigger increase in equity sales and trading revenue than Wall Street peers such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers after stock indexes from New York to Hong Kong rose during the quarter.
