We've noted that top banks and brokerages are pondering all kinds of asset sales. Few will do so in an environment as trigger-happy as the one in which Merrill Lynch now exists. Speculation is heavy that it will sell either its stake in Bloomberg or BlackRock. The conventional wisdom now seems to be that the strategic nature of its BlackRock stake limits the likelihood of such a sale. That leaves Bloomberg. With the likelihood of a $5 billion writeoff looming, Deutsche Bank star analyst Mike Mayo told clients that a sale might generate offsetting proceeds, MarketWatch notes. The danger in this is that it reduces the capital cushion against future losses. If the writedowns keep coming, the firm may be forced to sell its BlackRock stake. Hopefully, it will not get to that.  

For more:
- here's a MarketWatch brief on Mayo's comments
- Wachovia's analyst expects a $5 billion writedown. Article

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More asset sales to come