Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal was similarly reassuring.
"While it is very early in the current quarter and despite continued challenges in structured finance, we are beginning to see signs of a return to more normal activity levels in a number of markets," he said.
But many believe the writeoffs will continue.
"Although they may firmly believe this gets everything out of the way, I think there's going to be further reserve additions in future quarters," said Keith Davis, an analyst at fund manager Farr, Miller & Washington. "I'm pretty bearish on the whole banking sector."
Citi, Merrill and Wamu were three banks in the spotlight coming into the third quarter because of their exposure to CDOs, leveraged loans and subprime mortgages.
Now they have made a clean breast of their losses, investors are betting they will soon have company.
JPMorgan Chase and, to a lesser extent, Bank of America and Wachovia Corp may take hits as well.
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