Merrill Lynch's earnings to be hit

Earnings will be the focus for four top banks this week. Lehman will get things rolling on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley will report on Wednesday. Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs will follow the next day. Merrill Lynch will not release earnings until October. But it offered a glimpse in a filing that noted it had written down the value of various subprime debts, CDOs and other products. It did not specify what impact this might have on earnings. But you have to assume that other banks probably marked some securities to market as well. Hopefully, we'll get a clearer picture of credit issues in earnings reports. But I doubt it.  

For more:
- here's an article from The Telegraph

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