Crisis wipes $1 trillion from financial stocks

The firm, known for aggressive trading tactics that can cause big swings from week to week, still far surpassed many of its rivals on the Street. That has put more focus on Merrill Lynch, which will report its quarterly results next Thursday.

John Thain, Merrill's CEO, is said to be examining the sale of stakes the brokerage has in asset manager BlackRock Inc. and in Bloomberg LP. Money raised would be used to offset big write-downs expected at the brokerage.

A spokeswoman declined to comment about numerous media reports. However, Thain in the past has said he is open to selling the stakes if Merrill can fetch a good price.

Howard Silverblatt, S&P's senior index analyst, said financial stocks will likely continue to be hurt until some signs develop that show banks and brokerages have a better grip on credit problems. Merrill's earnings next week could provide that.

"There's still lots of uncertainty out there," he said. "And, the financials need to turn around if the whole index wants to recover."

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AP Business Writer Stephen Bernard contributed to this story from New York.