From Bloomberg:
Merrill Lynch to Take $15 Billion Mortgage Writedown, NYT Says
Merrill Lynch & Co., the third- largest U.S. securities firm, may write down $15 billion related to U.S. mortgage losses, almost twice its original estimate, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the plan.
Merrill is trying to raise $4 billion from investors in the U.S., Asia and the Middle East, the newspaper said, citing the same people. The firm is expected to disclose the loss when it reports earnings next week, according to the Times.
Merrill and Citigroup Inc. lost almost half their market value in the past year, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday that financial-market “turmoil” has hurt the economy. U.S. and European banks and securities firms have turned to Asian and Middle Eastern governments for about $34 billion as subprime mortgage losses battered their balance sheets.
“I suspect there’ll be more to come,” said Hugh Young, who oversees $50 billion at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd. in Singapore. “It’s going to be a tough year for investors. Even if we don’t see a technical recession in the U.S., it’ll definitely feel like one.”