New York (dpa) - Bank of America's third quarter companywide
earnings swung into the black, the company reported Tuesday.
However, euro-debt uncertainties forced a loss in the U.S. mega
bank's investment banking division, which lost $302 million
(220 million euros) in the quarter ending September 30, 2011.
The division earned a profit of $1.5 billion in the same
quarter last year.
The firm's $4.5 billion pretax profit was due mainly to
profits from a $3.6 billion of shares of China Construction Bank
(CCB), and a $1.7 billion pretax gain in trading Debit
Valuation Adjustments (DVA).
Private equity and other investments accounted for a
$2.2 billion loss.
A sluggish U.S. housing market, combined with a high unemployment
rate and coupled with domestic and European sovereign credit
uncertainties, weighed on the bank, CEO Brian Moynihan said in
Tuesday's release.
During the third quarter of 2010, the bank lost $7.6 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2010, its losses deepened to $9.1 billion - a record - due to writedowns of uncollectable
credit card and mortgage debts.
