New York, March 14: Relax, oh weary investors, the spring shall release you from the shackles of dwindling stock portfolio values. Or so goes the company line from Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, which sports the bull in its corporate logo. The No 1 US full-service brokerage took out full-page advertisements in major newspapers on Wednesday to soothe investors who have watched the Nasdaq Composite Index and other market indexes hit the skids, destroying the value of their holdings."Although there remains the near-term possibility of a continued move to the downside, our research analysts expect the market to rally this spring," the company blared in an ad titled, "The storm before the calm." The ad, which said further interest rate cuts should boost the economy and stock market, appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.
It was not the first time Merrill, which called the last 12 months "trying ones" in its ad, publicly tried to ease investor fears - it ran similar ads during the 1987 market crash. "At a time of uncertainty, we felt it was important to deliver a clear message about our views on the markets," a Merrill spokesman said.
(Reuters)
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