Jan. 4, 2001 Merrill Lynch brokers have applauded the firm’s cost-cutting measures, which included 1,800 layoffs in the brokerage division to reduce the "bloated bureaucracy" that reps say was mushrooming at headquarters.But some of...

Jan. 9, 2001 SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. yesterday took a swipe at the equity markets in a speech delivered at Stanford University. The commission at the same time released a study purporting to show that Nasdaq spreads are sometimes...

The new work options at American Express Financial Advisors are contributing to the company’s financial weakness. American Express announced April 2 that it expects to post lower earnings (due out April 23), primarily from losses on high...

First Union announced this morning that it is buying Wachovia Corp. and adopting its corporate identity. First Union Corp. will become Wachovia Corp., and First Union Securities will be renamed Wachovia Securities, officials said during a...

When a broker jumps from one firm to another, and the firm sues--claiming its customer lists are a trade secret and that former employees shouldn’t be allowed to solicit clients--the law firm that Merrill Lynch and some other firms retain is...

Merrill Lynch is making some waves in the trust business. “[Merrill] has certainly bulked up in hiring and marketing,” says Jonathan Blattmachr, head of the trust and estates department at the New York City law firm of Milbank Tweed...

According to Prudential Insurance Co.’s initial public offering document filed yesterday at the SEC, the firm’s brokerage unit ended 2000 with 5,883 reps in the United States, down 3% from 6,072 in 1999. The filing also revealed that...

Sale Of Home To Bypass Trust Or QTIP By Roy M. Adams and Glenn Kurlander Kirkland & Ellis New York, NY Q: The Internal Revenue Code Sec. 121 exclusion of gain on the sale of a residence has been allowed for the sale of a home by a grantor trust...

Invitation to submit questions on Estate and Investment Planning Roy M. Adams, Senior Partner, Kirkland & Ellis, Trust and Estates Group; Glenn Kurlander Senior Partner, Kirkland & Ellis, Trust and Estates Group; William S. Villafranco, Senior...

Here are all of the comments RR heard from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter brokers. A "Our equity research is the best, best in the field. Our level of ethics and integrity is also very high. Our operation/back office is certainly not the best. It...