Prudential Financial Launches Three New Global Economic & Investment Research Reports; Coverage Includes Macro and Financial Market Analysis, Forecasting, and Sector Strategy

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) announced todaythat the company's International Investment business is launching aseries of global economic and investment research reports written byJohn Praveen, PhD., chief investment strategist of PrudentialInternational Investments Advisers, LLC. (PIIA). Starting today,concise and useful information will be available in the PIIA GlobalEconomic Outlook, Global Investment Strategy and Global InvestmentOutlook on a monthly basis under the auspices of Prudential'sInternational Investment businesses in Korea, Taiwan, and Mexico, andthe company's joint ventures in Germany, Italy and China.

PIIA Global Economic Outlook will cover growth and inflation,interest rates, currencies, and corporate profits for the UnitedStates, Europe, Japan, China and emerging markets. PIIA GlobalInvestment Strategy will feature global asset allocation, bond andequity market outlook and strategy, and sector strategy. PIIA GlobalInvestment Outlook will provide analysis of and outlook for globalfinancial markets and economies.

"John Praveen has more than 20 years of investment experience fromboth the buy-side and sell side from Wall Street as well as theacademic world," said Stephen Pelletier, chairman and CEO ofPrudential's International Investments. "John's market insightsprovide our businesses and local partners with in depth and relevantanalysis on economic trends in Europe and Asia, global sectors, andstocks and bond market outlook," said Pelletier. "They can use thisinformation to assist their clients in making smarter decisionsrelated to their financial needs."

"In making financial decisions, accessible and timely informationis key," said Praveen. "Our goal is to turn macro and market data intouseful information and analysis to help our business partners betterunderstand today's complex and interrelated global financial markets,"said Praveen.

As chief investment strategist, Praveen is responsible fordeveloping and managing macro and financial market analysis,generating forecasts in research reports, and formulating investmentstrategy, asset allocation and sector strategy. Below are excerptsfrom the three new research reports:

Global Investment Outlook

Earnings: "Japan continues to have the best earnings outlook, withimproving corporate pricing power and labor costs contained. In theU.S., solid GDP growth and strong productivity should underpinearnings. Dollar weakness in 2006 should give a boost to U.S.earnings, as 30% of S&P 500 sales are overseas. European earnings,which enjoyed the support of low interest rates and weak Euro, nowface higher interest rates and a potentially stronger Euro."

Valuation: "Stocks are still attractive relative to bonds, with ahigher earnings yield. Stocks are also trading at attractivemultiples. The trailing P/E for the MSCI World index decreased to17.9X in December 2005 from 18.4X in January 2005. Market multiplesdeclined in all markets."

Global Economic Outlook

Currency: "Interest rate and growth differentials that supportedthe U.S. dollar in 2005 are narrowing in 2006. There is dollarweakness, especially against the Euro. Also, increased volatility incurrency markets with cross current of growing U.S. current accountdeficit and strong capital inflows."

Growth: "Solid growth in 2006 with trend growth in the U.S. andJapan, Euroland rebounding to trend growth, strong growth in China andIndia, and healthy growth in other Emerging Markets. U.S. growth setto rebound sharply in first quarter 2006 from fourth quarter 2005pause."

Global Investment Strategy

Stocks and Bonds: "Stocks should post healthy gains in 2006, withattractive valuation, solid earnings and improved macro backdrop. Bondyields should remain under pressure, but the rise in yields should belimited."

Prudential International Investments Advisers, LLC (PIIA), aPrudential Financial, Inc. company, is an investment adviserregistered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the UnitedStates of America.

International Investments has a presence in Korea, China, Taiwan,Japan, Mexico, Germany and Italy offering proprietary andnon-proprietary asset management, investment advice and product choiceservices to high net worth and mass affluent retail clients and toinstitutional clients. These services are marketed through our own andthird-party distribution networks. International Investments is alsopart of Prudential's International Division.

Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $532 billion intotal assets under management as of December 31, 2005, serveindividual and institutional customers worldwide and include ThePrudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest lifeinsurance companies in the United States. These companies offer avariety of products and services, including life insurance, mutualfunds, annuities, pension and retirement related services andadministration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking andtrust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocationservices. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.

Editors Note:

The commentary presented is for informational purposes only, andis not intended as investment advice. This material has been preparedby PIIA on the basis of publicly available information, internallydeveloped data and other third party sources believed to be reliable.However, no assurances are provided regarding the reliability of suchinformation. All opinions and views constitute judgments as of thedate of writing, and are subject to change at any time without notice.There can be no assurance that any forecast made herein will beactually realized.