Merrill Lynch posts big loss due to credit crisis

    NEW YORK, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Merrill Lynch on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 9.8 billion U.S. dollars, the largest in the company's history, due to credit crisis.

    The largest U.S. brokerage took a 14.1-billion-dollar write-down in the fourth quarter on bad subprime mortgage bets plus other charges that have forced the sale of pieces of the company to foreign investors to raise capital.

    For the year, Merrill's subprime mortgage-related losses totaled nearly 23 billion dollars.

    On Wednesday, JP Morgan Chase, reported lower fourth quarter profits as it took a 1.3-billion-dollar loss on subprime mortgage-related positions.

    The Bank of New York Mellon reported a relatively paltry 118 million dollars write-down on Thursday as it announced lower fourth quarter profits.