merrill lynch

Many big Wall Street firms have settled fraud cases brought by the government with a promise to never violate the same law.

But an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission documents by The New York Times found that since 1996, there have been at least 51 repeat violations by those firms.

Bank of America and Citigroup have each had six repeat violations, while Merrill Lynch and UBS have each had five.

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Johnson,A a founding partner of Rose Park Advisors , Clayton M. Christensen's investment firm, was a double-ranked Institutional Investor analyst at Merrill Lynch covering telecom and media in emerging markets before she helped found Rose Park Advisors.

Aug. 22 -- Michelle Meyer, senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, talks about the outlook for the U.S. economy and Federal Reserve monetary policy.

MBIA Inc. has decided not to pursue a lawsuit against Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch unit.

UPGRADES BofA/Merrill Lynch upgrades A123 Systems (Nasdaq: AONE) from Neutral to Buy.

Stifel Nicolaus lifts Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE: PDM) from Sell to Hold. BofA/Merrill Lynch raises Covanta (NYSE: CVA) from Neutral to Buy.

Enerplus (NYSE: ERF) upgraded by several firms:

• TD Newcrest from Hold to Buy, increasing its price target from C$34 to C$37.

UPGRADES Auriga upgrades First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) from Hold to Buy with a $160 price target. Click Here for more color.

BofA/Merrill Lynch lifts Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) from Netural to Buy.

UPGRADES FBR Capital lifts Hercules Offshore (Nasdaq: HERO) from Underperform to Outperform, with $8.50 price target. Click Here for more color.

UBS upgrades General Motors (NYSE: GM) from Neutral to Buy. Wedbush raises Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR) from Neutral to Outperform, boosting its price target from $24 to $30.

March 28 -- Rupert Hume-Kendall, chairman of global capital markets at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, discusses the outlook for initial public offerings.

UPGRADES Barclays upgraded Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) from Equalweight to Overweight, price target increased from $39 to $40.

BB&T Capital upgrades Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR) from Hold to Buy, and $66 price target. PROS Holdings (NYSE: PRO) upgraded by two today:

• Jefferies from Hold to Buy, with a price target increased from $10 to $14.