Merrill Lynch Recommends Stocks `Resilient' in Global Slowdown

Merrill Lynch & Co. recommended Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), Coca-Cola Co. (KO), McDonald's Corp. (MCD) and 24 other U.S. stocks and U.S.-traded shares of companies based elsewhere in the world that may show strength in the face of a global economic slowdown.

``The world economy can no longer rely on the U.S. consumer as a buyer of last resort,'' Richard Bernstein, New York-based chief investment strategist, wrote in a note. ``The good news is that there are strong sources of growth outside the U.S. that should prove resilient to a U.S. cyclical slowdown.''

Global economic growth will slow to 4.4 percent next year from an estimated 5.2 percent in 2006, while U.S. growth drops to 1.9 percent from 3.4 percent, according to Merrill.

Company                            Ticker         Country

Caterpillar                        CAT US         U.S.
Fluor                              FLR US         U.S.
United Technologies                UTX US         U.S.
Autodesk                           ADSK US        U.S.
Molex                              MOLX US        U.S.
Altria Group                       MO US          U.S.
Coca-Cola                          KO US          U.S.
McDonald's                         MCD US         U.S.
Aflac                              AFL US         U.S.
NII                                NIHD US        U.S.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group     MTU US         Japan
Orix                               IX US          Japan
Allied Irish Banks                 AIB US         Ireland
GlaxoSmithKline                    GSK US         U.K.
Barclays                           BCS US         U.K.
Hellenic Telecommunications        OTE US         Greece
Fresenius Medical Care             FMS US         Germany
UniCredito Italiano                UNCFF US       Italy
LVMH                               LVMHF US       France
Femsa                              FMX US         Mexico
TAM                                TAM US         Brazil
Wal-Mart de Mexico                 WMMVY US       Mexico
China Life Insurance               LFC US         China
Indosat                            IIT US         Indonesia
Tata Motors                        TTM US         India
VimpelCom                          VIP US         Russia
China Mobile                       CHL US         Hong Kong

To contact the reporter for this story: Nick Baker in New York at nbaker7@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Nagi at chrisnagi@bloomberg.net.