Merrill Lynch & Co. may take additional writedowns of up to $15 billion on its collateralized debt obligations and subprime investments when it announces earnings this week, according to various analyst reports. Merrill, which is slated to announce earnings Jan. 17, would not comment on the reports. (In the third quarter, it took a $7.9 billion hit on CDOs and subprime assets.) According to a note put out by Sandler O'Neill, many "wild cards" exist for Merrill. "Estimating CDO/subprime writedowns is quite subjective given the range of marks we have seen from peers," said Sandler. "Our current estimate of $10 billion represents an estimated markdown to $0.40 on the dollar from [Merrill's] starting exposure levels. While this markdown is arguably quite aggressive, certain peers have been even more aggressive in putting these issues behind them. For example, we estimate that Morgan Stanley marked its exposure in the range of $0.25 on the dollar." Sandler said if Merrill takes a $15 billion charge in the fourth quarter, "this would represent a net writedown to approximately $0.22 on the dollar."
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Doxo plans to fight the FTC complaint, which focuses broadly on consumer finance, but there are signs of confusion about the company's role in mortgages too.
April 25 -
Members of the LGBTQ community were most likely to have experienced housing bias, according to a Zillow survey, which also found many people don't recognize how fair lending laws could help.
April 25 -
Senior executives making over $151,000 would still be subject to such clauses should the rule go into effect this year.
April 25 -
Christopher J. Gallo and his aide, Mehmet A. Elmas, allegedly withheld information in mortgage applications, hiding that borrowers were purchasing second home properties.
April 25 -
Mortgage rates rose 7 basis points this week, Freddie Mac said, and more increases are likely following a weaker than expected gross domestic product report.
April 25 -
Independent mortgage bankers lost the most money ever on every loan originated last year due to higher rates and lower volumes, an industry trade group said.
April 25