Bank of America Earnings

Bank of America posted earnings of $0.05 EPS, while First Call had estimates at $0.18 on last look. Net income was down 95% at $268 million for the quarter. Trading account losses were $5.44 Billion, driven almost exclusively by $5.28 Billion in CDO writedowns (considerably larger than the $3.3 billion estimated as recently as Dec 22). Provision expenses increased $1.74 Billion, mostly due to a $1.33 Billion addition to the reserve for credit losses. Amazingly despite the bad day overall on Wall Street, Bank of America shares actually closed up 4% after slipping in early trading.