Bank of America's move to back away from efforts to raise the Federal cap on deposit ownership pretty much convinced people, correctly, that a big consumer banking deal was off the table, but speculation immediately focused on Countrywide, a big mortgage player. There was even some news reports that the companies had held preliminary negotiations. Unfortunately, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said yesterday that the bank was focused on organic growth in the mortgage market. That doesn't rule out a deal of some sort--perhaps with another company. Intriguingly, Lewis did say that he would like to expand in the Chicago area and in Colorado. The cap makes a big deal unlikely, but some fill-in type deals would not be surprising at all.

For more:
- here's an article from CNNmoney.com