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American Morning

Minding Your Business: Bank of America to Buy Fleet for $47 Billion

Aired October 27, 2003 - 07:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wall Street news now. It says stay out of stocks, a multi-billion-dollar merger at two of the nation's largest banks.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

Yes, this is big, big news for business this morning on Wall Street. Bank of America, the nation's third-largest bank, is buying FleetBoston out of Boston for $47 billion this morning. And that's creating the nation's and the world's second-largest bank, after Citigroup. They'll be leaping over ahead of J.P. Morgan. And Warren Buffett -- that's right -- is saying stay out of stocks. I bet he wished he owned Fleet Bank this morning, though, because that stock is trading for $31 and they're going to be offering $45 a share. So, we're going to see a nice pop there.

Good news for investors, though. There is a couple of other big deals this morning, a couple deals in health care. United Healthcare buying Mid-Atlantic for about 3 billion, and then Anthem buying WellPoint for 15 billion. They call it merger Monday, Soledad. A lot of times executives get together over the weekend and announce these deals. That's what's happening right now, and it's a sign that people believe that the environment is picking up a little bit.

Futures are up on the news, and that is some good stuff for investors who need that kind of thing.

O'BRIEN: Do we have time for a quick preview?

SERWER: Yes, we do.

O'BRIEN: Five words or less?

SERWER: Yes, OK. Well, last week, we were down a little bit. Here, you can see, not so terrible. Am I over five?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You're over five.

SERWER: Futures are up this morning. How about that? That's my last sentence.

O'BRIEN: Very good. Thank you. SERWER: OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.





$47 Billion>


Aired October 27, 2003 - 07:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wall Street news now. It says stay out of stocks, a multi-billion-dollar merger at two of the nation's largest banks.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

Yes, this is big, big news for business this morning on Wall Street. Bank of America, the nation's third-largest bank, is buying FleetBoston out of Boston for $47 billion this morning. And that's creating the nation's and the world's second-largest bank, after Citigroup. They'll be leaping over ahead of J.P. Morgan. And Warren Buffett -- that's right -- is saying stay out of stocks. I bet he wished he owned Fleet Bank this morning, though, because that stock is trading for $31 and they're going to be offering $45 a share. So, we're going to see a nice pop there.

Good news for investors, though. There is a couple of other big deals this morning, a couple deals in health care. United Healthcare buying Mid-Atlantic for about 3 billion, and then Anthem buying WellPoint for 15 billion. They call it merger Monday, Soledad. A lot of times executives get together over the weekend and announce these deals. That's what's happening right now, and it's a sign that people believe that the environment is picking up a little bit.

Futures are up on the news, and that is some good stuff for investors who need that kind of thing.

O'BRIEN: Do we have time for a quick preview?

SERWER: Yes, we do.

O'BRIEN: Five words or less?

SERWER: Yes, OK. Well, last week, we were down a little bit. Here, you can see, not so terrible. Am I over five?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You're over five.

SERWER: Futures are up this morning. How about that? That's my last sentence.

O'BRIEN: Very good. Thank you. SERWER: OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.





$47 Billion>