Banks, First Quarter Earnings | featured news

Bank of America has reported a sharp rise in profits after it shed costs and set aside less money for bad loans. The bank reported first quarter net income of $2.3bn (£1.5bn), after making $328m in the same quarter a year ago.

The U.S. banking industry posted a $35.3-billion profit in the first quarter of the year, its best performance since 2007, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday.

Morgan Stanley's first-quarter profit dropped nearly 50 percent, hurt by a steep decline in bond trading revenue.

The nation's largest retail bank said first-quarter earnings rose to $3.8 billion from $2.6 billion in the period a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs’ first-quarter income fell 72 percent after the bank paid out $1.64 billion in dividends to redeem preferred shares it issued to billionaire investor Warren Buffett during the financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs said Tuesday its first-quarter earnings almost doubled to $3.3 billion as its trading business again surpassed the rest of the financial industry. A top lawyer for the bank, which is facing civil fraud charges, said Goldman would "never intentionally mislead anyone."

Citigroup Inc. provided more evidence that the nation's big banks may have turned a corner. The bank reported a surprise first-quarter profit Monday as trading revenue offset losses from failed loans....

The bank, which is often considered a bellwether, said that it had clawed back to profitability in the first quarter, after two consecutive periods of losses.

JPMorgan Chase reported a $3.3 billion profit for the first quarter Wednesday, even as its results were tempered by ongoing losses in consumer loan portfolios.