Merrill posts fifth quarterly loss in a row

Merrill Lynch & Co, the investment bank being taken over by Bank of America Corp, reported a fifth straight quarterly loss as the credit crisis saddled the firm with at least $9.5 billion of writedowns.

The third-quarter net loss of $5.15 billion, or $5.58 a share, compared with a deficit of $2.24 billion, or $2.82, a year earlier, New York-based Merrill said in a statement yesterday. The average estimate of 15 analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for a loss of $5.18. Merrill, led by Chief Executive Officer John Thain, turned to Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis last month after a crisis of confidence in Wall Street firms forced Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc into bankruptcy. Merrill, hobbled by $52.2 billion in losses and writedowns from subprime-contaminated securities, has plunged 81 percent in New York trading from a peak of $97.53 at the start of last year.

"Every indication that we've had so far from companies that have pre-released earnings just shows that the third quarter was much worse than the second quarter," said David Burg, a Purchase, New York-based analyst at Alpine Woods Capital, which manages about $7 billion, including Bank of America shares.