Bank of America (BAC), like Citigroup (C), is suffering at the hands of the economy to a much greater extent than JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS). At the latter two, strong trading results helped power earnings, but in the case of Citi and Bank of America, strong trading results were not enough to offset consumer losses.

At Bank of America, strong investment banking results--thanks to Merrill Lynch--were still swamped. The fact that the bank paid $1.2 billion in dividends to preferred shareholders--more than half to the government--didn't help. The loss follows some big gains earlier in the year, which stoked hope, fed by executives, that the bank would soon be able to pay off its TARP liabilities. But I don't see that now.

For the big consumer banks, it's not clear that the worst is over for credit card and mortgage debts. At Bank of America, both units posted $1 billion plus losses in the quarter. This report was notable for being the last one that CEO Ken Lewis will sign off on. It was memorable. 

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

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