Energy Shortages And Price Spikes Not A Growth Threat.(Brief Article)

Industry Week, September, 2000

Oil prices soaring above $40 a barrel? Now there's a crude economic thought, for, indicates Merrill Lynch & Co., New York, such a development would seriously damage U.S. arid global economic growth. However, current sharp increases in oil and natural gas prices and local electricity price spikes do not threaten economic growth, says the securities firm whose analysts remain bullish on the prospects for energy companies and utilities.

Merrill Lynch's reasoning: "Pricing in the energy complex looks firm enough to produce impressive earnings streams through next year, but not so firm as to derail the economy, or even to slow it substantially beyond whatever impact higher oil prices have already inflicted."