Merrill Lynch oust Deutsche Bank

Merrill Lynch & Co ousted Deutsche Bank AG last quarter as the most accurate forecaster of foreign exchange rates. The New York-based firm’s strategy team predicts the dollar’s two-month rally won’t last.

Led by Merrill’s chief global currency strategist, Yianos Kontopoulos, the six-person team forecasts the dollar will weaken to $1.25 against the euro by the end of June and end the year at $1.33.

The strategists had an average margin of error of 1.77% in predicting seven exchange rates, the lowest of 54 companies surveyed by Bloomberg News in December.