Exhibit 99.1

  Merrill Lynch Reports Third Quarter Net Earnings of $920 Million,
                       $0.93 Per Diluted Share;
        Record Net Earnings for the First Nine Months of 2004,
                           Up 24% From 2003

    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 12, 2004--Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER)
today reported third quarter net earnings of $920 million, a decline
of 8% from $1.0 billion in the 2003 third quarter. Earnings per
diluted share were $0.93, compared with $1.00 for the year-ago
quarter. The company said the decline in quarterly net earnings had
been anticipated and was primarily driven by reduced activity levels,
which impacted Global Markets and Investment Banking and, to a lesser
extent, Global Private Client. Earnings in Merrill Lynch Investment
Managers increased from the year-ago quarter. Third quarter net
revenues were $4.8 billion, 3% lower than the third quarter of 2003.

    Net earnings for the first nine months were $3.3 billion, 24%
higher than the year-ago period, on net revenues that grew 8%, to
$16.2 billion. These are record nine months earnings for Merrill
Lynch. The pre-tax profit margin was 26.5%, over two percentage points
higher than the 24.3% achieved in the first nine months of 2003.
Year-to-date 2004 annualized return on equity was 14.6%, up from 13.7%
in the prior-year period.



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    "Like the rest of the industry, we experienced very challenging
market conditions and resulting revenue pressures in the quarter,"
said Stan O'Neal, chairman and chief executive officer. "However, over
the past three years our repositioning of the company's business
model, combined with the realignment of our cost base and our revenue
diversification efforts, enabled us to deliver solid results that kept
us on track for record earnings for the first nine months of 2004.

    "Most importantly, we continued to invest in key growth
initiatives during the quarter in each of our business segments," Mr.
O'Neal continued, "and we are making gains in filling strategic gaps,
enhancing service to our clients, broadening our revenue profile and
actively managing our equity capital. We feel very good about the
state of our business overall, and we remain committed to the
investments we have identified that continue to enhance and grow our
business."

Business Segment Review:

Global Markets and Investment Banking (GMI)
- -------------------------------------------
    GMI's solid performance was amidst a challenging business
environment in the third quarter of 2004. Oil prices, interest rates,
low volatility and geopolitical uncertainty continued to affect the
markets, and the slowing of activity typical of the summer months
was more pronounced than usual.

    --  GMI's third quarter pre-tax earnings were $771 million, down
        22% from the year-ago quarter, driven by net revenues that
        decreased 9%, to $2.3 billion. Non-interest expenses were
        essentially unchanged from the year-ago quarter. The third
        quarter pre-tax profit margin was 34.3%.

    --  GMI's year-to-date pre-tax earnings were $2.9 billion, up 2%
        from the prior year period, on net revenues that rose 4%, to
        $8.1 billion. The year-to-date pre-tax profit margin was
        35.3%, compared with 36.0% in the first nine months of 2003
        (34.7% excluding September 11-related recoveries-- see
        Attachment III for details).

    --  Global Markets net revenues decreased 13% from the 2003 third
        quarter and 15% from the 2004 second quarter, driven by lower
        net trading revenues in both debt and equity markets. Compared
        with the prior-year period, debt markets net revenues
        decreased 11%, driven lower by credit products revenues,
        partially offset by increases in global principal investing
        and secured finance and interest rate trading. Equity markets
        net revenues decreased 15% compared with the 2003 third
        quarter, driven by lower cash and equity-linked trading
        revenues, which more than offset increased net revenues from
        equity financing and services.



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    --  Investment Banking net revenues were up 4% from the year-ago
        quarter and down 17% from the second quarter of 2004. Compared
        with the 2003 third quarter, a 33% increase in debt
        origination revenues was largely offset by a 16% decline in
        equity origination revenues, while advisory revenues decreased
        only 4%. Year-to-date net revenues in investment banking were
        up 28% from the first nine months of 2003, with debt and
        equity origination as well as advisory contributing to the
        increase.

Global Private Client (GPC)
- ---------------------------
    GPC performed strongly across most businesses in the third
quarter, despite a difficult market environment and a more pronounced
seasonal slowdown in client activity. This performance demonstrated
the benefits of GPC's continued focus on revenue diversification,
asset annuitization and growth in Financial Advisors (FAs).

    --  GPC's net revenues were $2.3 billion, unchanged from the
        prior-year quarter and down only 4% from the 2004 second
        quarter. Compared with the 2003 third quarter, higher asset
        values and annuitized asset flows drove fee-based revenues
        significantly higher, essentially offsetting the market-driven
        decline in transaction-based revenues and lower net interest
        profit, which was impacted by increased credit provisions for
        small business lending. GPC's third quarter pre-tax earnings
        of $409 million were down 10% from the year-ago quarter, and
        the pre-tax profit margin was 17.7%, as non-interest expenses
        increased, due in part to higher litigation-related costs.

    --  For the first nine months of 2004, GPC's pre-tax earnings were
        up 33% from the year-ago period to a record $1.4 billion, on
        net revenues that rose 10%, to $7.2 billion. GPC's
        year-to-date pre-tax profit margin was 18.9%, up over three
        percentage points from the year-ago period.

    --  The number of FAs grew through competitive recruitment and new
        trainee hiring by approximately 100, to 14,100 globally.
        Year-to-date, GPC has increased FAs by 600, up more than 4%
        from the end of 2003 and on target for GPC's goal of 5% annual
        growth. FA turnover, including top producers, remained at very
        low levels.

    --  Total assets in GPC accounts grew 9% from the year-ago
        quarter, to $1.3 trillion. Net inflows into annuitized
        products, including net new money and funds transferred into
        annuitized products from existing accounts, were $7 billion
        during the quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to $28
        billion.



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Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM)
- ----------------------------------------
    MLIM continued to generate strong investment performance while
focusing on broadening the distribution of its products and
maintaining operating discipline. Despite a progressively more
challenging market environment, MLIM's strategy has generated
consistent quarterly pre-tax earnings for the first nine months of
2004, which are more than double those for the prior-year period.

    --  MLIM's third quarter pre-tax earnings were $110 million, up
        59% from $69 million in the third quarter of 2003 and down
        slightly from the 2004 second quarter. Net revenues increased
        10% from the year-ago period, to $373 million, driven
        primarily by increased average asset values. The pre-tax
        profit margin was 29.5%, up over nine percentage points from
        20.4% in the year-ago period.

    --  MLIM's year-to-date pre-tax earnings were $331 million, on net
        revenues that grew 17%, to $1.2 billion. The year-to-date
        pre-tax profit margin was 28.7%, compared to 16.8% in the
        first nine months of 2003.

    --  MLIM's relative investment performance continues to be strong.
        More than 70% of global assets under management were ahead of
        their respective benchmarks or medians for the one-, three-
        and five-year periods ended August 2004.

    --  Firmwide, assets under management totaled $478 billion at the
        end of the third quarter, up slightly from the year-ago
        quarter and 2% lower than the second quarter of 2004. The
        sequential decline was due principally to net outflows from
        short-term institutional liquidity products, largely the
        result of increases in short-term interest rates.

Prior Year September 11-Related Net Recoveries
- ----------------------------------------------
    The September 11-related net recovery in the third quarter of 2003
included a partial pre-tax insurance recovery of $25 million, offset
by September 11-related costs of $4 million. For the first nine months
of 2003, recoveries totaled $100 million, offset by September
11-related costs of $18 million. These insurance recoveries
represented partial business interruption settlements for GMI and were
recorded as a reduction of expenses in that segment. The costs were
recorded in the Corporate segment.



                                       8

Third Quarter Income Statement Review:

Revenues
- --------
    Net revenues were $4.8 billion, down 3% from the year-ago quarter.

    Asset management and portfolio service fees were $1.3 billion, up
13% from the 2003 third quarter. This increase includes higher
portfolio servicing fees, a large portion of which are calculated on
beginning-of-period asset values, as well as increased investment and
fund management fees.

    Commission revenues were $1.1 billion, essentially unchanged from
the third quarter of 2003, as lower equity commissions were offset by
higher mutual fund and insurance commissions.

    Principal transactions revenues were $390 million, 45% lower than
the year-ago quarter, reflecting significantly lower equity trading
revenues driven principally by decreases in U.S. secondary trading and
equity-linked trading. Global Markets net revenues are better analyzed
on an aggregate basis by business, which includes net interest; refer
to Attachment III for further detail on GMI net revenues.

    Net interest profit was $914 million, down 11% from the 2003 third
quarter, due primarily to changes in the balance sheet mix and
increased credit provisions in GPC small business lending.

    Investment banking revenues were $666 million, down slightly from
the year-ago quarter. These revenues included underwriting revenues of
$537 million and strategic advisory revenues of $129 million, which
both declined marginally from the year-ago quarter.

    Other revenues were $438 million, up $127 million from the 2003
third quarter due principally to a write-down in 2003 of certain
available-for-sale securities considered to be impaired on an
other-than-temporary basis.



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Expenses
- --------
    On a year-to-date basis, compensation and benefits expenses were
48.8% of net revenues, down from 51.5% for the first nine months of
2003. Compensation and benefits expenses were $2.3 billion, or 47.0%
of net revenues for the third quarter of 2004, compared to 49.0% in
the year-ago quarter.

    Overall, non-compensation expenses were $1.4 billion. Excluding
the impact of the net recovery related to September 11 in 2003,
non-compensation expenses were up 17% from the 2003 third quarter, but
only 5% from the 2004 second quarter.

    Details of the significant changes in non-compensation expenses
from the third quarter of 2003 are as follows:

    --  brokerage, clearing, and exchange fees were $213 million, up
        13% due in part to the acquisition of a clearing business;

    --  professional fees increased 12%, to $163 million, due
        principally to higher consulting fees and employment service
        fees;

    --  advertising and market development expenses were $127 million,
        up 43% due primarily to increased promotional costs, travel,
        and recognition programs; and

    --  other expenses were $231 million, up $113 million which
        reflects higher litigation provisions in GPC and the impact of
        the consolidation of certain private equity investments.

    Merrill Lynch's year-to-date effective tax rate was 24.3%
reflecting the business mix, tax settlements in the second quarter and
utilization of Japanese net operating loss carryforwards.

Staffing
- --------
    Merrill Lynch's full-time employees totaled 49,900 at the end of
the third quarter of 2004, a net increase of 600 during the quarter.
This increase primarily reflects seasonal hiring into training
programs, and FA recruiting.



                                       10

Stock Repurchase Plan
- ---------------------
    As part of its active management of equity capital, Merrill Lynch
repurchased 17.8 million shares of its common stock during the third
quarter at an average price of $50.28 per share. Through the end of
the third quarter, Merrill Lynch repurchased a cumulative total of
47.7 million shares at an average price of $54.86, completing the $2
billion repurchase authorized in February 2004 and utilizing $619
million of the additional $2 billion repurchase authorized in July
2004.

    Ahmass Fakahany, executive vice president and chief financial
officer, will host a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. EDT to
discuss the company's 2004 third quarter results. The conference call
can be accessed via a live audio webcast available through the
Investor Relations website at www.ir.ml.com or by dialing (888)
810-0245 (U.S. callers) or (706) 634-0180 (non-U.S. callers).
On-demand replay of the webcast will be available from approximately
1:00 p.m. EDT today at the same web address.

    Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading financial management
and advisory companies with offices in 35 countries and total client
assets of approximately $1.5 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a
leading global underwriter of debt and equity securities and strategic
advisor to corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals
worldwide. Through Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, the company is
one of the world's largest managers of financial assets, with assets
under management of $478 billion. For more information on Merrill
Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.



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    Merrill Lynch may make or publish forward-looking statements about
management expectations, strategic objectives, business prospects,
investment banking backlogs, anticipated expense levels and financial
results, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory proceedings,
and other similar matters. A variety of factors, many of which are
beyond Merrill Lynch's control, affect the operations, performance,
business strategy and results of Merrill Lynch and could cause actual
results and experiences to differ materially from the expectations and
objectives expressed in these statements. These factors include, but
are not limited to, financial market volatility, actions and
initiatives by current and potential competitors, the effect of
current and future legislation or regulation, and certain other
additional factors described in Merrill Lynch's 2003 Annual Report on
Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, which are
available on the Merrill Lynch Investor Relations website at
www.ir.ml.com and at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.

    Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which
they are made. Merrill Lynch does not undertake to update such
statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise
after the date these statements were made. Readers should, however,
consult any further disclosures Merrill Lynch may make in its reports
filed with the SEC.



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