Deutsche Bank Faces Hit; Merrill Prospects Dim

Deutsche Bank tallied the charges it expects to take on mortgages and related products in the third quarter and an analyst cut estimates for Merrill Lynch as the market continued to buzz about the credit crunch's potential effect on forthcoming Wall Street earnings.Deutsche Bank says it anticipates taking charges of approximately 1.5 billion euros (about $2.1 billion) on structured credit products, residential mortgage-backed securities, and relative value trading in both credit and equities in the third quarter. Meanwhile, CIBC World Markets analyst Meredith Whitney has cut its estimate of Merrill Lynch's third-quarter earnings from $2.00 to $0.97 per share "to reflect the challenging capital markets conditions and lingering effects of subprime [mortgages]." A number of news reports also said some fixed-income executives have recently left Merrill Lynch. Merrill had not responded to a call for comment at deadline time.