71.   The companies confirmed their merger discussions in a press release yesterday evening.

72.   The merger discussions are ongoing.

73.   The Wall Street Journal said the troubled equipment maker was in merger discussions with Alcatel SA, the French communications equipment manufacturer.

74.   Two other banks are in advanced stages of merger discussions and several others are said to be scouting around for prospective partners.

75.   Citicorp and American Express had merger discussions that ended in no agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

76.   Deutsche Boerse has held merger discussions with the London Stock Exchange in the past but they collapsed after Swedish exchange OM Gruppen launched a hostile bid of its own.

77.   First Interstate Bank announced Monday that it has begun merger discussions with Wells Fargo, despite having already signed an merger agreement with First Bank System Inc. of Minneapolis.