July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Merrill Lynch & Co. declined in New York trading after the third-biggest U.S. securities firm reported a wider-than-estimated second-quarter loss on $9.7 billion of credit-market writedowns.
And:
Merrill's charges from the credit crisis now exceed $46 billion.
And:
Money-losing collateralized debt obligations -- securities packaged from other bonds, many linked to subprime mortgages -- continue to cause Merrill's biggest writedowns. The firm was one of the largest underwriters of CDOs before the credit crisis hit last year, and Merrill was stuck with more than $46 billion of them on its books when buyers fled the market.
The firm's remaining CDO holdings fell to $19.9 billion at the end of June from $26.3 billion at the end of March, according to the firm's statement yesterday. The majority of the reduction resulted from $3.5 billion in writedowns.
Emphasis added by me.
So there's another $19.9 billion they'll have to write-down in the coming quarter or two?
Banks and brokers have taken more than $435 billion of writedowns and credit losses since the beginning of last year as mortgage-backed securities, CDOs, leveraged loans and other fixed-income assets lost value. Merrill's charges are now second only to those at Citigroup Inc., the largest U.S. bank.
Emphasis added by me.
Close to half a trillion dollars.
But some people say it's not done yet.
And those people are correct!
Where is your money today?
Educate yourself!
Previously here:
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #141
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #130
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #099
$2-$6 Trillion … POOF! Gone!
The Two Trillion Dollar Spree
The Trillion-Dollar Spree, The Sequel
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