Deutsche bailout in doubt

Will Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel let Deutsche Bank go kaput?

Germany’s largest bank scrambled to contain damage to its share price on Monday, after a European report said that it probably wouldn’t get a government bailout — increasing the likelihood that a major settlement with US prosecutors could bury the 146year-old bank.

Merkel has ruled out bailing out the bank before next year’s September election, according to the German magazine Focus.

A bank spokesman denied that Chief Executive Officer John Cryan had spoken with Merkel about a bailout — but Wall Street was divided.

“We have to assume that the German government, in some way, will bail them out,” Peter Boockvar, an analyst at The Lindsey Group, said on CNBC.

The unsettling report sent stocks in Europe and the US falling, as many Wall Street bank stocks were off more than 2 percent on the news.

Deutsche’s shares also skidded to an all-time low, shedding more than 7 percent, to close at $11.85 a share in New York.

Deutsche Bank is currently in settlement talks with the Justice Department over its role in selling sour mortgage-backed securities during the financial crisis.

The bank has shot back against reports that it could end up paying $14 billion — saying it has “no intent to settle these potential civil claims anywhere near the number cited.”