Merrill Lynch Says Buy Main Street, Sell Wall Street

Favoring Main Street over Wall Street “has the potential to be the trade of 2015,” according to Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit.

Companies catering to U.S. households stand to benefit as lower oil prices and falling unemployment bolster discretionary income, Hartnett wrote two days ago in a report. On the other hand, declines in energy-related investments are having “an unambiguously negative impact on Wall Street,” he wrote.