Merrill Loss May Be

From this WSJ aritcle:

Merrill Lynch & Co. is expected to announce its third-quarter losses are more than $2 billion more than first projected, ratcheting up the pressure on Chief Executive Stan O'Neal to demonstrate he has a grip on the firm's risk level.

Merrill announced on Oct. 5 that it expected to write down $5 billion for the quarter that ended in September, the biggest such loss of any Wall Street firm, based mainly on an over-exposure to risky mortgage-related securities.

But the actual write-down is expected to come in far above that initial estimate, with outsiders putting the level at $7 billion or higher.


Ouch!

So the question is, how long until I-bank layoffs?

Update:
Merrill Lynch & Co. swung to an unexpectedly deep loss in the third quarter on the back of a $7.9 billion writedown in its fixed-income trading business, a hit that exceeded the Wall Street giant's net earnings for all of 2006.


Merrill posted a net loss of $2.24 billion
Updated WSJ article:
hat tip Calculated Risk

Got popcorn?
Neil