EXHIBIT 99.1

Exhibit 99.1

Merrill Lynch Reports Highest-Ever Net
Revenues of $8.0 Billion for First Quarter 2006, up 28%

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2006--Merrill Lynch (NYSE:
MER):

-- Net Earnings of $475 Million, $0.44 Per Diluted Share,
Including Previously Announced One-Time Non-Cash Expenses

-- Excluding One-Time Expenses, Diluted EPS up 36%, to $1.65

Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) today reported its highest quarterly net
revenues ever, at $8.0 billion, for the first quarter 2006, up 28%
from the prior-year quarter and 17% from the 2005 fourth quarter. Net
revenues increased both sequentially and year-over-year in all three
business segments and all global regions.
First quarter 2006 net earnings of $475 million, or $0.44 per
diluted share, include $1.2 billion, after taxes, of previously
announced one-time, non-cash compensation expenses. Excluding these
one-time expenses, diluted earnings per share were $1.65, up 36% from
$1.21 for the year-ago quarter and up 17% from $1.41 for the fourth
quarter of 2005. On the same basis, first quarter 2006 net earnings
were $1.7 billion, up 36% from the first quarter of 2005 and 19% from
the fourth quarter of 2005; pre-tax earnings of $2.4 billion were up
41% from the first quarter of 2005 and 16% from the fourth quarter of
2005; the pre-tax profit margin for the first quarter was 29.5%; and
the annualized return on average common equity was 19.1%. At the end
of the first quarter, book value per share was $37.18, up 13% from the
end of first quarter of 2005 and 4% from year-end 2005.

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As previously announced, the first quarter of 2006 results
included $1.8 billion, or $1.2 billion after taxes, for the one-time,
non-cash acceleration of compensation expenses arising from
modifications to the retirement eligibility requirements of existing
stock-based employee compensation awards and the adoption of Statement
of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123 (as revised in 2004);
(together "one-time compensation expenses"). Details of the one-time
compensation expenses were outlined in the company's April 3, 2006
Form 8-K, and reconciliations of results both including and excluding
the one-time compensation expenses appear on Attachments II and III to
this release.
Fourth quarter 2005 results included a charge of $170 million, or
$102 million after taxes, for litigation-related expenses, as well as
$113 million in income tax expense associated with Merrill Lynch's
repatriation of $1.8 billion of foreign earnings under the provisions
of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. These items combined to
reduce earnings per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2005 by
$0.22.
"Our revenue and operating performance overall, and for each of
our three businesses, was very strong," said Stan O'Neal, chairman and
chief executive officer. "Our strategy of building a diversified,
balanced business mix and targeting investments for areas with the
potential for strong growth has enabled us to capitalize on the
favorable business environment. We remain focused on disciplined
execution of our strategy."

Business Segment Review:

The one-time compensation expenses, before taxes, were recorded in
the business segments as follows: $1.4 billion to Global Markets and
Investment Banking, $281 million to Global Private Client and $109
million to Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. The following discussion
of business segment results excludes the impact of these one-time
expenses. A reconciliation of segment results with these amounts
appears on Attachment III to this release.


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Global Markets and Investment Banking (GMI)
- -------------------------------------------

GMI's strong first quarter 2006 results demonstrate the benefits
of targeted organic and inorganic investments for diversification and
profitable growth, executed with strong operating discipline in a
favorable market environment.

-- GMI's first quarter 2006 net revenues were a record $4.6
billion, up 31% from the fourth quarter and 37% from the
year-ago quarter. Excluding the one-time compensation
expenses, pre-tax earnings were $1.6 billion, up 41% from the
year-ago quarter and the first quarter pre-tax profit margin
was 34.7%.

-- Compared with the prior-year quarter, net revenues increased
in all three major businesses lines. Equity Markets net
revenues increased 62%, with strong performance in every major
revenue category. Debt Markets net revenues set a new record,
up 26%, driven primarily by the trading of interest rate and
credit products. Investment Banking net revenues were 30%
higher, with increases from merger and acquisition advisory
and debt origination mandates.

-- Sequentially, Global Markets net revenues increased 42% while
Investment Banking net revenues were essentially unchanged.
Debt Markets net revenues increased 52%, driven primarily by
the trading of credit and interest rate products. Equity
Markets net revenues increased 32%, as increases in revenues
from equity-linked and cash equity trading, proprietary
trading and equity financing and services were partially
offset by a decline in private equity revenues. Investment
Banking net revenues were essentially unchanged, as an
increase in debt origination revenues was offset by seasonal
declines in both merger and acquisition advisory and equity
origination revenues.


Global Private Client (GPC)
- ---------------------------


GPC performed strongly in the first quarter of 2006, demonstrating
the benefits of industry-leading scale and operating leverage in a
favorable market environment. These results, in turn, continue to
enable significant investments across the franchise in people,
products and technology.

-- GPC's first quarter 2006 net revenues were $2.9 billion, up
13% from the year-ago quarter. The increase was primarily
driven by record fee-based revenues, record net interest
profit driven by bank-related activities and stronger client
transaction volumes. Excluding the one-time compensation
expenses, GPC's first quarter pre-tax earnings of $646 million
increased 27% from the year-ago quarter, and the pre-tax
margin of 22.0% improved by over two percentage points,
demonstrating the operating leverage inherent in GPC's highly
scalable platform.

-- Total assets in GPC accounts increased 12% from the year-ago
quarter, to over $1.5 trillion. Excluding net outflows in the
recently acquired Amvescap retirement business and the former
Advest franchise prior to systems conversion, net client
assets into annuitized-revenue products were $12.3 billion,
and total net new money was $16.9 billion for the quarter.


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-- Financial Advisor (FA) headcount reached 15,350 at
quarter-end, as GPC continues to actively recruit and train
FAs. Turnover among FAs, particularly top producing and
longer-serving FAs, remained at historical lows.



Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM)
- ----------------------------------------


MLIM generated outstanding results during the first quarter of
2006, as strong relative investment performance in a favorable market
drove improved net flows. MLIM also remained focused on broadening
distribution and maintaining operating discipline.

-- MLIM's first quarter 2006 net revenues were $570 million, up
38% from the 2005 first quarter. The year-over-year increase
in net revenues was driven by higher asset values and robust
net inflows. Excluding the one-time compensation charge,
pre-tax earnings were $222 million, up 75% from the year-ago
quarter, due primarily to higher net revenues. On the same
basis, MLIM's pre-tax margin for the quarter was 38.9%.

-- Firmwide assets under management totaled $581 billion at the
end of the first quarter, up 21% from a year ago. Net inflows
for the quarter were $15.4 billion, the highest since the
second quarter of 2000, with nearly every channel across
regions generating net inflows. The EMEA Pacific retail
business was the most significant contributor to net flows,
followed by the Americas proprietary retail and the Americas
institutional channels.

-- More than 70% of MLIM's global assets under management
continued to be ahead of their respective benchmarks or
category medians for the three- and five-year periods ended
February 2006.

-- During the first quarter, Merrill Lynch announced that it had
entered into a definitive agreement to combine MLIM with
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) in exchange for stock that will
equate to an economic ownership interest in the combined firm
of approximately 49.8%. The merger is expected to close in the
third quarter of 2006, subject to regulatory and BlackRock
shareholder approval.



Compensation Expenses
- ---------------------

As previously announced, Merrill Lynch adopted Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards No. 123 (as revised in 2004) to account
for stock-based employee compensation during the first quarter of
2006. Additionally, as a result of a comprehensive review of the
retirement provisions in its stock-based compensation plans, Merrill
Lynch also modified the retirement eligibility requirements of
existing stock awards in order to facilitate transition to more
stringent retirement eligibility requirements for future stock awards.
These modifications and the adoption of the new accounting standard
required Merrill Lynch to accelerate the recognition of compensation
expenses for the affected stock awards, resulting in the one-time
compensation expenses. These changes represent timing differences and
are not economic in substance.


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Compensation and benefits expenses were $5.8 billion for the first
quarter of 2006. Excluding the one-time compensation expenses,
compensation and benefits expenses were $4.0 billion, or 50.1% of net
revenues for the first quarter of 2006, compared to 49.7% in the
year-ago quarter.



Non-compensation Expenses
- -------------------------


Overall, non-compensation expenses were $1.6 billion for the first
quarter of 2006, up 10% from the year-ago quarter and down 11% from
the fourth quarter of 2005. Excluding the litigation charge of $170
million in the fourth quarter of 2005, first quarter non-compensation
expenses decreased 2% sequentially.
Non-compensation expenses as a percentage of net revenues
decreased from 23.5% in the 2005 first quarter to 20.3% in the 2006
first quarter. Details of the significant changes in non-compensation
expenses from the first quarter of 2005 are as follows:

-- Communications and technology costs were $453 million, up 14%,
due primarily to higher market information and communications
costs and increased systems consulting costs related to
investments for growth.

-- Brokerage, clearing, and exchange fees were $248 million, up
13% due primarily to higher transaction volumes.

-- Professional fees were $200 million, an increase of 12% due to
higher legal, consulting and other professional fees.

-- Expenses of consolidated investments totaled $47 million, a
decrease of 45%, due to the deconsolidation of certain
investments in 2005; and

-- Other expenses were $229 million, up 29%.



Income Taxes
- ------------


Merrill Lynch's first quarter effective tax rate was 19.9%.
Excluding the one-time compensation expenses, the effective tax rate
for the first quarter of 2006 was 29.8%.



Share Repurchases
- -----------------


As part of its active management of equity capital, Merrill Lynch
repurchased 25.8 million shares of its common stock for $2.0 billion
during the first quarter, completing the $4 billion repurchase program
authorized in April 2005 and utilizing $644 million of the additional
$6 billion repurchase program authorized in February 2006.



Staffing
- --------

Merrill Lynch's full-time employees totaled 55,500 at the end of
the first quarter of 2006, a net increase of 900 during the quarter.


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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 2006 first 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 $1.8
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
$581 billion. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit
www.ml.com.

Merrill Lynch may make forward-looking statements, including, for
example, statements about management expectations, strategic
objectives, growth opportunities, business prospects, investment
banking pipelines, 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


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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 the Risk Factors section of Merrill
Lynch's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December
30, 2005 and also disclosed from time to time in its subsequent
reports on 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.
Merrill Lynch may also, from time to time, disclose financial
information on a non-GAAP basis where management believes this
information will be valuable to investors in gauging the quality of
Merrill Lynch's financial performance and identifying trends.


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