Bank of America Posts Slide but Beats Q2 Expectations

Bank of America reported a 41% decrease in net income today, beating analyst expectations as writedowns shrank to $1.22 million in the second quarter from $2.81 billion a quarter earlier, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bank also said it expects to make money this year from its takeover of troubled mortgage lender Countrywide.

The nation’s largest retail bank was the latest to out-perform analyst predictions, and saw its share price jump 9.3% in pre-market trading. While non-performing loans continued to be a problem, B of A said revenues rose 3.5% to $20.3 billion in the quarter, pushing net income to $3.41 billion or 72 cents a share, down from $5.76 billion a year ago. (More Bank of America stories.)