"We are not going to do a blockbuster merger with somebody else," Mr. Chambers said.

When Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank announced their blockbuster merger in 1995, he recalled, the stocks initially jumped on similar expectations that the combination would transform banking.

Most of the major food makers are already highly leveraged after two years of blockbuster mergers that include Bestfoods and Unilever and Kraft and Nabisco.

The biggest problem with such a blockbuster merger?

The deal, potentially valued at $19 billion, would be the third major attempt in little more than a year at a blockbuster merger in the nation's financial industries.

When American companies cite foreign competition to justify blockbuster mergers, regulators should be careful to check whether that competition extends down to consumers.

Novartis is itself the product of a blockbuster 1996 merger combining two Swiss drug and chemical makers, Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy.

Stock prices continued to set records yesterday, buoyed by higher bond prices and the announcement of a new blockbuster merger.

The deal comes after months of speculation about which company Monsanto would tie the knot with and after a year of blockbuster mergers and acquisition battles in the pharmaceutical world.

The potential for blockbuster mergers that could drain companies of cash has also diminished.