WALL STREET MUGGER

While the winds of winter whistle through the canyons of Wall Street, Mugger has heard from a source that there may be some happy or at least cautiously optimistic whistlers among the IT denizens of Merrill Lynch. While most projects are still in a state of limbo, my source says there will be "a clearer picture by the end of the first quarter". There have been no indications of "a serious consolidation of projects", the source adds. The final judges of the fate of these projects will be the