20653023 Entry # 6

Merrill Lynch posted another quarterly loss as the brokerage house continued to suffer from subprime mortgages crisis.
Since last year Merrill lost $1.96 billion, or $2.19 a share (compare a year-ago profit of $2.11 billion, or $2.26 a share). Main reason of the loss of the brokerage house is new write downs of $6.6 billion.
Combined with the loss Merrill Lynch said it would cut an additional 4,000 jobs by the end of the year. The cuts would come from the company's capital markets and trading divisions, not support staff and financial advisers. The firm currently has 63,100 employees.
Merrill is considered by most on Wall Street to be one of the biggest victims of the subprime mortgage crisis beside investment bank Bear Stearns.
In November Merril ousted its chief executive Stan O'Neal.
Thain said in interviews over the past two months that Merrill’s massive positions in subprime mortgages and other complicate instruments had deteriorated.
The write downs were widely expected by most analysts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies, with offices in 40 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.6 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies, with more than $1trillion in assets under management. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit http://www.ml.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Merrill Lynch to write down further $6-8 billion: report
TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will announce $6 billion to $8 billion of asset write-downs in its first quarter results on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The latest write-downs would increase total debt losses since October to more than $30 billion, the paper said. The setbacks will contribute to a third straight quarterly net loss at Merrill, the longest losing streak in its 94-year history.
Merrill Lynch spokeswoman Jessica Oppenheim declined to comment.
Investors have been bracing for more bad news from big U.S. banks reporting their first-quarter results this week as the housing market collapse and credit market turmoil has taken a big toll on their balance sheets.
On average, analysts who cover Merrill have told clients they expect $6 billion to $8 billion of write-downs.
"In this environment, anything is plausible," Sandler O'Neill + Partners analyst Jeff Harte said.
The real key to Merrill's actual results will be what steps the firm has taken to reduce its exposure to risky assets going forward.
"It's how much is written down. If the losses are bigger and it's because they reduced exposure, that may not be so bad," Harte said. "The actual earnings number is less relevant than the health of underlying business."
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Merrill is preparing to slash 10 to 15 percent of jobs in some struggling business areas, such as bond financing.
Such cuts, too, are not totally unexpected. Rival banks such as UBS, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers have laid off employees, and recruiters expect the current slump will lead to new rounds of layoffs.
Currency traders in Asia said the article on Merrill caused a slight dip in the U.S. dollar against the yen but that the reaction was muted because investors had been expecting more such write-downs.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which is taking over hard-hit investment bank Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), on Wednesday reported more than $5 billion of loan losses and asset write-downs. Regional bank Wells Fargo (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) also reported lower quarterly results Wednesday.
Earlier in the week Wachovia (WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the number four U.S. bank, posted a surprise first-quarter loss as losses from its mortgage portfolio worsened. It also cut its dividend and raised $7 billion of capital.
(Reporting by Eric Burroughs in Tokyo and Joe Giannone in New York; additional reporting by Olesya Dmitracova in London, editing by Will Waterman and Dave Zimmerman)

Referrences:
http://www.ml.com/index.asp?id=7695_7696_8149_88278_95339_96026&ML.grp=HL
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUST23375520080416?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0