In an SEC filing ahead of an investor presentation, Bank of America’s (BAC) CEO says that the fourth quarter will be a bit of a train wreck.
At Bank of America, we currently expect provision expense to be approximately $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter, reflecting increased reserves of about $1.3 billion. In round numbers, about one third of the increase is due to growth and seasoning in our consumer lending portfolios with the remaining two thirds due to deterioration principally in consumer real estate and some in small business.
While we do not make a practice of forecasting quarterly earnings, I think you certainly can assume results will again be quite disappointing. At this point, the final writedowns of CDOs are unknowable, but we expect to be profitable in the fourth quarter.
No good news there.
Douglas A. McIntyre