by Calculated Risk on 7/17/2008 05:19:00 PM

From the WSJ: Write-Downs Push Merrill Lynch Into Red for 4th Straight Quarter

Merrill Lynch & Co. posted its fourth consecutive quarterly loss on $9.75 billion in additional write-downs on assets tied to the tanking housing market.
...
The negative revenue resulted from $3.5 billion in write-downs on collateralized debt obligations, a $2.9 billion loss related to hedges with financial guarantors, a $1.7 billion write-down on the investment portfolio of Merrill Lynch's U.S. banks, and $1.3 billion write-down related to residential mortgage exposures and a $348 million write-down related to leveraged finance commitments.
...
Moody's Investors Service downgraded Merrill's senior long-term debt after the report one notch to A2 ...

This is far worse than expected. CNBC forecast write downs of $3 billion to $5 billion. Ouch.