From WSJ - Merrill Posts its fourth consecutive loss (Emphasis added)

Merrill Lynch lost Merrill Lynch & Co. posted its fourth consecutive quarterly loss Thursday amid $9.75 billion in additional write-downs on troubled assets.

....

Revenue was negative $2.12 billion, compared with revenue of $9.46 billion a year earlier, amid $3.5 billion in write-downs on collateralized debt obligations, a $2.9 billion loss related to hedges with financial guarantors, a $1.7 billion write-down on the investment portfolio of Merrill Lynch's U.S. banks, and $1.3 billion write-down related to residential mortgage exposures and a $348 million write-down related to leveraged finance commitments.

Merrill's loss would have been a lot deeper had it not been for a $91 million gain booked on the declining value of the bank's own debt. The move, while counterintuitive, is a legitimate quirk of mark-to-market accounting.

Merrill has so fare refused to raise additional capital. Whether they need it or not, I wonder if it would have been wise to raise capital while it was still available. Only time will tell.