The net impact from closing the BlackRock merger included a one-time pretax gain of $2.0 billion and related non-interest expenses of $202 million, for a total after-tax net benefit of $1.1 billion, or $1.17 per diluted share. Excluding the net benefits from the BlackRock merger, third-quarter 2006 net earnings were $1.9 billion, and net earnings per diluted share of $2.00 were higher than any previous quarter for Merrill Lynch and up 43 percent from the 2005 third quarter and up 23 percent from the 2006 second quarter. Third-quarter net earnings and earnings per share included a tax benefit which reduced the effective tax rate. Adjusted to exclude the net benefits from the merger, pretax earnings of $2.4 billion were higher than in any previous quarter, up 22 percent from the