we're going to merrill lynch, i have to come see you to sign and move your accounts >> i trusted them to do it, and no i did not read a them >> what benson didn't understand is that their compensation at merrill lynch would include millions of dollars in incentives if they met commission targets it's a common practice on wall street and it's legal. but what benson alleges happened next is not legal at all for the next ten years they churned his account, trading and trading and trading without benson's approval, not to make him money, but to make them big commissions. >> they made $26 million me in fees to lose me five >> that, benson says, is a study of his accounts based on a forensic analyst that he hired if benson simply put the money into an s&p index fund and left it to grow, he would have earned $100 million >> are you trying to put the responsibility on them for things that should have been your responsibility. >> if i wanted today trade my own account i would have done it myself i didn't need to pay $26 million to merrill lynch to do it. >> robert levine noticed the problems f

cnbc has learned that merrill lynch is still paying his legal fees >> it's fascinating.he key line that stood out for me in that piece is when you said that they executed trades without his permission is that to say he had a client directed account and lots of trades were going on without the phone call that would suggest his direction or that it was a discretionary account and meant to be long term in nature but much more short term in nature than they let on >> what he alleges is that it was a client directed account. he was supposed to be kept apprised of the trades he claims that did not happen. >> fascinating stuff thank you very much for that you can read much more about that investigation on cnbc.com >>> still ahead, the up tick in retail trading has been mainly attributed to people being stuck in the house with too much time on their hands that wasn't the number one driverer of activity we're back in a couple of minutes. >>> welcome back we're just up 2% on the dow. trading apps like robinhood have seen a huge surge during the pandemic more time at home is not wh

we have gone out and hired really passionate top differentiated analysts from bank of america merrill lynch morgan, barclays deutsche bank. timese now done it seven where we have hired the top analysts from these firms. goodu have really differentiated research, then you can have some pricing power. in a market where our clients have been under pressure so long. as recently as two years ago, some of the large long only's and hedge funds -- they have probably dropped still to a way to high number in the hundreds, 150, 200. over time, we hope that will come down to 25 or 30. we are ranked number seven in the u.s. and in terms of number one analyst, fourth. we feel very good that we are taking a lot of share. we are also investing heavily in research when the larger banks are not stepping up to defend and hired new research like we are doing. covid and this pandemic has created new opportunities and challenges and people are cutting costs. respond to clients that are continuing to cut costs not only this year but potentially next year as well? seen is a lotve of volatility in the market we hav

let's get more into the details with francisco blanch, bank of america merrill lynch head of commoditiesel like the market today is faced with two things. one is strong imports into china on the copper side, on the oil and, on the iron ore side, on the flipside continued potential shutdowns in the u.s. and potentially weaker gasoline demand and refinery utilization. how do you understand these different narratives? one of the biggest stars we will have from covid 19 is that the gap between the u.s. and the chinese economies in terms of gdp size will close at a faster rate, which is the major geopolitical shift and also has huge implementations -- huge implications. china's doing a lot better than a majority of emerging markets in terms of controlling the virus. if you look at emerging markets like brazil or chile or peru, they are not doing as well as china. they are doing poorly. mexico as well in terms of controlling the outbreak. we are having disruptions on the mining side, which are supporting industrials, and china, we see the economy doing well. consumption is up. in theseeing a r

what i'm hearing from people, senior executives a at the major brokerage farms, merrill lynch, ubs, morgan stanley, their clients are calling and saying, what the heck is this? is this guy going to raise the top grade to x? how do i plan for that? there are those colds going on right now. because joe biden when it comes down to is offering an agenda that is radically different than donald trump. if you are a financial advisor, i could tell you what they are saying. don't panic. the federal reserve is still very important. they will keep interest rates to zero. don't sell everything off. they are going to have to at some point, you know, get real about what joe biden represents in terms of fiscal policy and taxes. and that is going to be reflected into individual investor's portfolio at some point. it is probably too early to do that now. i start taking profits at the table now when we have a little bit left of this bull market to go? i think there will be some volatility as we get past navy memorial day and we start talking about the reality of a joe biden presidency if he is still out by

institutional inveriors for emerging markets and before joining jp morgan was managing director at merrill lynch and sol low moan brothers. helga berger is an assistant director imf asian pacific department and adjunct professor of mon tier economic of free university of berlin and was a tenured full professor. he he previously taught at princeton, as well. and ann rutledge is a founding principle of the 20-year-old credit ratings advisory femur, credit spectrum. an expert on the logic of capital market development. testified before the u.s. senate, adviser to hong kong's monetary authorities and is just one of the leading experts on all issues related to credit. logan wright is director 0ed a rhodium. leaded the china re each and nonresidented a junk fellow with us in the trustee chair, previously logan was head of china research for medley groel in and is joining us from hong kong today. so i'll turn things over to joyce first. then helga, and anne and then logan in that order and then we'll look at questions from the audience. so, joyce, over to you. >> thank you so much, scott. it's a real p