This merger is a step towards solving some of Ethereum's biggest problems. The Ethereum network has been plagued by congestion and high fees for years. The new update is designed to fix the problem. I think, this not effects to price of ETH.
That's where merging comes in. Mergers are designed to have a long-term, not short-term impact. However, it won't immediately solve all of Ethereum's problems, but should lay the groundwork for future scaling solutions.
I feel like the decision to increase the price or not will be based on what happens with the transaction fee in the long run. If the congestion is over and the price is lower than the price will go up, because that has been the thing people have been waiting for.
It may not look good now, with the FED making the rates 3.25 and all, it's going to be a bit harder for people to have a bigger budget to invest on ETH, or any crypto to be fair, but when the time comes we are going to see it go up a lot, for sure. It's going to be a tough choice, but it could happen and we should be holding our ETH until it happens, because it looks quite promising so far.