Merrill Lynch & Co. posted its third straight quarterly loss and said it will cut about 3,000 more jobs after the credit seizure forced the investment bank to write down at least $6.5 billion of debt.
The first-quarter net loss of $1.96 billion, or $2.19 a share, compared with earnings of $2.16 billion, or $2.26, a year earlier, the third-biggest U.S. securities firm by market value said today in a statement. Analysts had predicted a loss of $1.72 billion, based on estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Merrill rose in New York trading.
Chief Executive Officer John Thain said today he expects ``more difficult'' months ahead. Since taking the job in December, he has sold more than $12 billion of equity to bolster capital and overhauled risk-management after the company booked more than $20 billion of credit-market losses. Merrill's stock has fallen 50 percent in the past 12 months, trailing larger New York-based rivals Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley.
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