Banking, finance, and taxes

Merrill Lynch's (MER) Bad Medicine

MerrillA lot of people on Wall St. were worried about the future of Merrill Lynch (MER) and were glad when Bank of America (BAC) bought it. Now, Bank of America may be unhappy.

Merrill lost $5.2 billion in the third quarter. The brokerage firm said that it had a loss from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2008 of $5.1 billion, or $5.56 per diluted share, compared with a net loss from continuing operations of $2.4 billion, or $2.99 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2007.

Among the bad news was that Merrill had net write-downs of $3.8 billion principally from severe market dislocations in September, including real estate-related asset write-downs and losses related to certain government sponsored entities and major U.S. broker-dealers, as well as the default of a U.S. broker-dealer.

In addition, the firm had net losses of $2.6 billion resulting primarily from completed and planned asset sales across residential and commercial mortgage exposures.

"We continue to reduce exposures and de-leverage the balance sheet prior to the closing of the Bank of America deal," said John A. Thain, chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch. Thain better hope BAC sees it that way.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts

Credit card companies are at war. The biggest issuers are handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.

It’s possible to find cards paying unlimited 1.5%, 2%, and even more today. That’s free money for qualified borrowers, and the type of thing that would be crazy to pass up. Those rewards can add up to thousands of dollars every year in free money, and include other benefits as well.

We’ve assembled some of the best credit cards for users today.  Don’t miss these offers because they won’t be this good forever.

 

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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