EXHIBIT 99.1 PRESS RELEASE

Exhibit 99.1

Merrill Lynch Reports Record EPS and Net Earnings for the Third
Quarter of 2005

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2005--Merrill Lynch:

-- Net Earnings Per Diluted Share of $1.40, up 51% from 2004; Net
Earnings of $1.4 Billion; Net Revenues of $6.7 Billion

-- EPS and Net Earnings for the First Nine Months Also Set
All-Time Records

Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) today reported third quarter 2005 net
earnings per diluted share of $1.40, up 51% from $0.93 for the
year-ago quarter and 23% from the second quarter of 2005. Pre-tax
earnings of $1.9 billion increased 60% from the prior-year period, and
net earnings of $1.4 billion were up 49%. These are the highest
quarterly earnings per diluted share, pre-tax earnings and net
earnings Merrill Lynch has ever generated.
Third quarter net revenues of $6.7 billion were up 38% from the
prior-year quarter and 6% from the second quarter, as net revenues
increased both sequentially and year-over-year in all three business
segments. The third quarter pre-tax profit margin was 29.0%, up four
percentage points from the prior-year quarter. The annualized return
on average common equity increased to 17.2%, almost five percentage
points higher than the 2004 third quarter.


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Net earnings per diluted share for the first nine months of 2005
were $3.76, up 18% from the first nine months of 2004. Pre-tax
earnings of $5.2 billion increased 21% from the prior-year period, on
net revenues that grew 19%, to $19.2 billion. Net earnings of $3.7
billion increased 15% over the 2004 period. These are record
nine-month earnings per diluted share, pre-tax earnings and net
earnings for Merrill Lynch. The pre-tax profit margin for the first
nine months of 2005 was 27.0%, also a record, and the annualized
return on average common equity was 15.7%.
"We are very pleased with our performance in the quarter," said
Stan O'Neal, chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch.
"Our broad scope of investments over the past two years--in new
people, businesses and technology-- has enhanced our ability to serve
clients and grow our business. As these investments mature, they will
further enhance our capabilities and results."

Business Segment Review:

Global Markets and Investment Banking (GMI)

GMI's third quarter results demonstrated the benefits of targeted
investments for diversification and profitable growth.

-- GMI's third quarter 2005 net revenues were $3.6 billion, up
63% from the year-ago quarter and 6% from the second quarter.
Pre-tax earnings for GMI set a new record at $1.3 billion, up
67% from the year-ago quarter and 17% from the second quarter.
Compared with the prior-year period, pre-tax earnings were
driven by increased net revenues in each major GMI business.
Sequentially, the increase was driven by increased net
revenues from the Global Markets businesses, as well as the
impact of the recent ruling in litigation related to the 2001
sale of a GMI energy trading business. The third quarter
pre-tax profit margin was 35.4%.

-- Global Markets net revenues increased 73% from the 2004 third
quarter and 9% from the second quarter. Debt Markets achieved
record quarterly net revenues, and Equity Markets generated
its strongest net revenues in 18 quarters.


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Compared with the prior-year period, Debt Markets net revenues
increased 57%, driven by higher net revenues in all major business
lines, particularly principal investing, the commodities business
acquired in November 2004, and credit products. Sequentially, Debt
Markets net revenues were up 4%, as increases in net revenues from
principal investing and commodities were partially offset by a decline
in revenues from trading interest rate and credit products.
Equity Markets net revenues increased 104% over the prior-year
quarter and 17% from the second quarter. Year-over-year, the increase
was broad-based, with equity-linked and cash equity trading, private
equity, and equity financing and services all contributing to higher
revenues. Sequentially, increases in net revenues from equity-linked
trading, cash equity trading and equity financing and services were
partially offset by a decrease in private equity revenues.

-- Investment Banking net revenues were 33% higher than the 2004
third quarter as debt origination, merger and acquisition
advisory and equity origination revenues all increased. Net
revenues declined 5% from the strong second quarter, as an
increase in debt origination revenues was more than offset by
declines in advisory and equity origination net revenues.

-- GMI's year-to-date pre-tax earnings were a record $3.5
billion, up 22% from the prior year period, on record net
revenues that rose 28%, to $10.4 billion. The year-to-date
pre-tax profit margin was 33.8%.

Global Private Client (GPC)

GPC generated record pre-tax earnings and margins in the third
quarter, demonstrating solid operating leverage as the business
continues to execute its strategy of revenue and product
diversification, annuitization, client segmentation and growth in
Financial Advisor (FA) headcount and productivity. GPC also generated
strong net inflows of both annuitized and total client assets.

-- GPC's third quarter 2005 net revenues were $2.7 billion, up
16% from the year-ago quarter. The increase was driven by
record fee-based revenues, record net interest profit from
bank-related activities and stronger client transaction and
origination volumes, which more than offset a decline in
revenues from the sales of mortgages. GPC's third quarter
pre-tax earnings of $590 million increased 43% from the
year-ago quarter, and the pre-tax margin of 21.9% was up more
than four percentage points, demonstrating the operating
leverage inherent in GPC's scale platform.

-- Total assets in GPC accounts increased 8% from the year-ago
quarter, to $1.4 trillion. Net client assets into annuitized
products were $9.6 billion for the quarter, reaching a record
level of $31.2 billion for the first nine months. Total net
new money was $10.6 billion for the quarter and $29.2 billion
for the first nine months.


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-- FA headcount grew by approximately 270 during the quarter,
reaching 14,690 at quarter-end, as GPC continues to actively
recruit and train FAs. Turnover of top producing FAs remained
low.

-- During the third quarter, Merrill Lynch announced that it has
agreed to acquire The Advest Group, Inc., which has
approximately 500 FAs. This transaction is expected to close
in the fourth quarter. The firm also announced that it has
entered into a definitive agreement to establish a private
banking and wealth management joint venture in Japan with
Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group. This venture is expected to
commence operations in the first half of 2006.

-- For the first nine months of 2005, GPC's net revenues
increased 9% to $7.9 billion, and pre-tax earnings were a
record $1.6 billion, up 15% from the 2004 period. GPC's
year-to-date pre-tax profit margin was a record 19.8%, up one
percentage point from 18.8% in the first nine months of 2004.

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM)

MLIM produced strong pre-tax earnings and record margins on
revenue growth resulting from favorable market conditions and
improving net flows. MLIM continued to focus on broadening the
distribution of its products and maintaining operating discipline
during the third quarter.

-- MLIM's third quarter 2005 net revenues were $456 million, up
22% from the 2004 third quarter, driven principally by higher
average long-term asset values, as well as an improvement in
the fee profile of assets under management. Pre-tax earnings
were $162 million, up 46% from the year-ago quarter due
primarily to higher net revenues, but also lower
non-compensation expenses, which included a net insurance
recovery of $15 million related to previous litigation. MLIM's
pre-tax margin was 35.5%.

-- Firmwide assets under management totaled $524 billion at the
end of the third quarter, up 10% from a year ago. Net inflows
for the quarter were $12 billion, the highest net inflows in
19 quarters, with particular strength in the Americas
institutional, European institutional and European third-party
retail channels. Additionally, MLIM's acquisition of the
Philips pension business added $18 billion of assets under
management.

-- More than 70% of global assets under management were ahead of
their respective benchmarks or category medians for the three-
and five-year periods ended August 2005.

-- MLIM's pre-tax earnings for the first nine months of 2005 were
a record $410 million, up 24% from the prior year period, on
net revenues that grew 10%, to $1.3 billion. The year-to-date
pre-tax profit margin was a record 32.2%, an increase of
nearly four percentage points over the first nine months of
2004.


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Compensation Expenses

Compensation and benefits expenses were $3.3 billion, or 48.7% of
net revenues for the third quarter of 2005, compared to 47.1% in the
year-ago quarter. Year-to-date compensation expenses were 49.2% of net
revenues, in line with the prior-year period.

Non-compensation Expenses

Overall, non-compensation expenses were $1.49 billion for the
third quarter of 2005, up 11% from the year-ago quarter and down 6%
from the 2005 second quarter. Non-compensation expenses as a
percentage of net revenues decreased from nearly 28% in last year's
third quarter to 22% this quarter.
Details of the significant changes in non-compensation expenses
from the third quarter of 2004 are as follows:

-- communications and technology costs were $405 million, up 12%
due primarily to higher systems consulting costs related to
investments for growth, including acquisitions, and higher
market information and communications costs;

-- occupancy costs and related depreciation were $235 million, up
7% principally due to higher office rental expenses, including
the impact of acquisitions;

-- professional fees were $173 million, up 5% due principally to
an increase in recruitment costs and other professional fees;

-- advertising and market development costs were $138 million, up
9% due primarily to higher travel expenses associated with
increased activity levels and increased sales promotion and
advertising costs;

-- expenses of consolidated investments totaled $91 million, up
from $47 million, due principally to minority interest
expenses associated with the related increase in revenues from
consolidated investments; and

-- other expenses were $211 million, up from $188 million, due
primarily to increases in certain taxes and training related
expenses, partially offset by the reversal of litigation
provisions in GMI and the net insurance recovery in MLIM.

Income Taxes

Merrill Lynch's effective tax rate was 28.9% for the third
quarter, bringing the effective rate to 28.4% for the first nine
months, just over four percentage points higher than 24.3% for the
first nine months of 2004. The higher rate in 2005 results from the
net impact of the change in business mix, tax settlements and the
utilization of Japanese net operating loss carryforwards, which
reduced the effective tax rate in 2004.

Staffing

Merrill Lynch's full-time employees totaled 53,100 at the end of
the third quarter of 2005, a net increase of 1,300 during the quarter,
resulting primarily from the acquisitions completed during the
quarter, seasonal hiring into training programs and FA recruiting.


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Share Repurchases

As part of its active management of equity capital, Merrill Lynch
repurchased 14.7 million shares of its common stock during the third
quarter at an average price of $58.26 per share.

Jeff Edwards, senior vice president and chief financial officer,
will host a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. ET to discuss the
company's 2005 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. ET today at the
same web address.

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management,
capital markets and advisory companies with offices in 36 countries
and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.7
trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and
underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of
asset classes and serves as a 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. Firmwide, assets under management total
$524 billion. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit
www.ml.com.


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Merrill Lynch may make forward-looking statements, including, for
example, statements about management expectations, strategic
objectives, growth opportunities, business prospects, investment
banking backlog, anticipated financial results, the impact of off
balance sheet arrangements, significant contractual obligations,
anticipated results of litigation and regulatory investigations and
proceedings, and other similar matters. These forward-looking
statements are not statements of historical facts and represent only
Merrill Lynch's beliefs regarding future performance, which is
inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors, many of which
are beyond Merrill Lynch's control, which affect the operations,
performance, business strategy and results and could cause its actual
results and experience to differ materially from the expectations and
objectives expressed in any forward-looking statements. These factors
include, but are not limited to, financial market volatility; actions
and initiatives taken by current and potential competitors; general
economic conditions; the effect of current, pending and future
legislation, regulation, and regulatory actions; and the other
additional factors described in Merrill Lynch's Annual Report on Form
10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004 and in its 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
forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or
events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements are
made. The reader should, however, consult any further disclosures
Merrill Lynch may make in its future filings of its reports on Form
10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K.


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