The market is rallying strongly in part due to Merrill Lynch’s (MER) steps to raise more capital and shed bad assets. Unfortunately, Merrill Lynch itself is down almost 4% and briefly touched a new 52-week low of $22.03. That brings its total loss to about 60% for the year. This isn’t some podunk outfit, it’s Merrill Lynch!

In terms of the specifics, the company sold part of its U.S. super senior asset-backed security CDO’s, which lessened its exposure in this toxic area by over $11 billion. Analyst reaction has been mixed with several people lowering their price targets and clearly investors are a little worried. However, at some point, this stock will be an amazing bargain.