Cost of Thanksgiving soaring, Merrill Lynch says(surprise, surprise. ph)

[Pete]

Cost of Thanksgiving soaring, Merrill Lynch says

By Kristina Cooke - 1 hour, 30 minutes ago

The cost of Thanksgiving is soaring, according to investment bank
Merrill Lynch & Co, which may help explain the gloom among U.S.
consumers as they head into the holiday season.

Merrill Lynch(MER.N), the world's biggest brokerage and one of the
most powerful names on Wall Street, calculated a Thanksgiving cost-of-
giving index using the prices of traditional holiday meal items such
as turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie -- as well as
the cost of flowers, gifts ranging from toys to clothing and
electronics, plus gasoline, hotels, air fare, and greeting cards.

The index has risen 7.9 percent year-over-year in the approach to the
festive season -- a huge swing from a drop of 4.4 percent a year ago.
In fact, this is more than double the historical trend for this time
of year and the second highest since 1999, said David Rosenberg,
Merrill Lynch North American

economist, in a report.

"One reason why consumer confidence is receding at a time of year when
everyone would be so joyous may be because the cost of partaking in
the holiday spirit has soared and bitten deeply into purchasing
power," he wrote.

"Black Friday," the day after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday and the
start of the traditional year-end spending spree, threatens to be a
Bleak Friday this time around.

The Black Friday moniker stems from the time when U.S. retailers rang
up enough sales on the day after Thanksgiving to turn the corner into
the black -- or profitability -- for the year, as Americans started
their annual Christmas shopping. Now such sales are anything but a
certainty, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and other big retailers
starting to offer holiday sales discounts much earlier this year.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Reuters/University of Michigan survey showed
U.S. consumer sentiment fell in November to its lowest in two years as
gasoline prices soared and the housing market downturn threatened to
ensnare more Americans.

VOICE OF THE BULL

The past few months have been "challenging" for Merrill Lynch and
others in the financial industry, according to a release headlined
"Why Merrill Lynch is Still Bullish on Merrill Lynch," dated November
12.

Merrill Lynch, a Wall Street powerhouse whose marketing symbol is the
bull, noted in the November 12 statement that "our financial position
and liquidity remain strong." It added:

"Even with adverse mortgage-related results in the third quarter, the
company's net earnings totaled $2 billion and net revenue totaled $20
billion for the first nine months of the year."

On October 30, Merrill Lynch said Chairman and Chief Executive Stan
O'Neal retired. His tenure came abruptly to an end after he misjudged
the company's exposure to risky subprime mortgage loans, triggering
the largest quarterly loss in Merrill Lynch's 93-year history.

On November 14, Merrill Lynch named NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) Chief
Executive John Thain as its new chairman and CEO, effective December
1. Thain earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1979 and had
worked at Goldman Sachs for more than 20 years in several senior
executive positions, where he was president and chief operating
officer before he joined the NYSE as its CEO in January 2004. ***

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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