The sad effects of the housing market continue to impact many companies. In a recent study the current housing market looks as though it will drop immensely in the fourth quarter also for banking companies across the globe with housing assets. It looks as though Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Mayo believes that large banks like Merrill Lynch, Citibank, and Bank of America will lose a combined $10 Billion dollars during this upcoming quarter.

Mayo feels that the bulk of this pain will be by Merrill Lynch and Citibank. The impact on these loses are felt by the companies and many different aspects of the economy. Merrill Lynch already lost nearly $8 billion this last quarter and now it looks like it isn’t going to get any better and write downs will continue to happen. What is sad is that investors will have to continue to worry about these banks and their assets over the course of the next couple years. Mayo believes that it will continue down this path making it hard for investors like you and me to get good loans with good rates.

The biggest fly to be swatted so far by the struggling real estate market is the CEO of Merrill Lynch who finally stepped down on October 30th to clear way to a new path for Merrill Lynch. Stanley O’Neal had little choice after Merrill Lynch lost nearly $8 billion dollars during the third quarter of the 2007 calendar year.

It really doesn’t matter what industry you are in or how big your company is, if you are losing that much money with your business then obviously some changes are going to need to be made and heads are going to roll. There have already been changes in other leadership roles to help stop the bleeding that has been going on with the traditionally dominant company in the past. In this case it is starting from the top and will trickle down as Merrill Lynch looks to rebound after such a difficult struggle.

Apparently O’Neal pushed for a merger with Wachovia recently and that helped to accelerate he exit out of the door from the board members of Merrill Lynch. What is sad for companies like Merrill Lynch and their employees is that things do not look like there will get better for the subprime real estate market.

Stan O’Neal, who has been the CEO Merrill Lynch since 2002, is under serious scrutiny since his firm announced a multi-billion dollar quarterly loss recently. The loss came in large part due to O’Neal’s investment in mortgage backed securities that have been decimated by the recent credit crisis.

Public opinion of the Merrill CEO is so low that the company’s stock jumped the most it has in several years when word got out that the board of directors was going to meet to discuss whether he should be retained, fired, or asked to step down. Board members seem confident that retaining Mr O’Neal is the least likely option. The movement the price of Merrill shares is proof that public opinion favors his removal, so stock holders can’t be happy.

O’Neal took the reigns at Merrill in 2002 amidst somewhat similar circumstances. The CEO at the time had come under fire for causing what were then the biggest losses in company history. As of the latest round of losses though, O’Neal is the CEO to be held responsible for the biggest write-downs ever for Merrill Lynch.

In the wake of this turmoil and the general drop in Merrill’s stock price, experts view the company as a prime target for a takeover by a competitor. Time will tell if another big financial will take advantage of O’Neal’s mistakes.