Merrill Lynch&Co. Inc. puttable floating option tax-exempt receipts series PA-1234, relating to Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development lease revenue bonds series B, are rated 'AAA/A-1'. The long-term component of the rating is based on the underlying bond, and the short-term component of the rating is based on a liquidity guarantee provided by Merrill Lynch&Co. Inc. until Dec. 15, 2004. Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard&Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard&Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Credit Ratings Actions.
