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Watch out for Real Estate, Emerging Market and Inflation Jitters in Q2 BMO and Harris Private Bank CIOs host media conference call to discuss North American equity markets and economies and the implications for investors

What:
Join Canadian and U.S. Chief Investment Officers from BMO Harris Private Banking and Harris Private Bank to hear their economic and capital markets forecasts for the second quarter of 2008.

CIOs Paul Taylor and Jack Ablin say the probability of further declines in the Canadian and U.S. equity markets will increase in accordance with the likelihood of a U.S. recession.

During the call, the CIOs will discuss four different economic and capital market forecast scenarios, including an outright U.S. consumer-led recession; prolonged housing softness; slow recovery of the U.S. housing market; and, a housing market rebound and stabilization of consumer spending.

Risks common to most of the forecasted market scenarios include:

U.S. housing weakness
Financial crisis
Re-emergence of inflation
Emerging market volatility increases

Investing in a challenging marketplace
The events of the first quarter of 2008 have created a difficult environment to generate returns. This environment may continue over the next quarter or longer.

If prolonged housing softness continues or an outright U.S.-led recession occurs, the CIOs predict cash and bonds will outperform equities.

Equity market returns are expected to become attractive again once stability has returned, as evidenced by some improvement in the U.S. housing market.

For more commentary and analysis on the Canadian and U.S. markets and what this means for investors, media are invited to call in for an interactive briefing at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 24, 2008.

Media conference call details:

Who:
Host: Graham Parsons, Executive Vice President, Global Private Banking, BMO Harris Private Banking

Paul Taylor, Chief Investment Officer, BMO Harris Private Banking, Toronto

Jack Ablin, Chief Investment Officer, Harris Private Bank, Chicago

When:
Thursday, April 24, 2008
1:00 p.m. EDT

Media call in number for BMO Harris Private Banking conference call:
416-695-7806 / 888-789-9572

Participant passcode:
3259321#

The call will be archived at www.bmoharrisprivatebanking.com for seven days and a print transcript of the conference call will be available upon request.

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