<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/a0ca90d4-c6cc-48ee-bb14-2a0abae61705/F2856FDD-74E3-4E65-A84D-9A201D9F6E2B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html" href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.ft.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html"><P>Investor optimism has helped bank stock prices rise strongly from their multi-year lows in early March, when stock markets seemed poised for more large bank failures.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html"><P>But for many of the banks, investors and analysts are asking whether the first quarter’s gains will be fleeting.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html"><P>As markets become more stable, trading profits may subside, while continued deterioration in the US economy bodes ill for the performance of loans to consumers and businesses, threatening losses that may once more outpace the banks’ ability to make money.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html">BofA, which on Monday <A class=bodystrong title="Credit concerns cast pall over BofA figures - FT.com" href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ab639b8c-2d98-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html">reported a $4.2bn profit</A> amid strong mortgage refinancing and commercial banking revenues, is a classic example of the banking industry’s current dilemma. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html">The bank said its provision for credit losses rose from $8.5bn in the fourth quarter of last year to $13.4bn in the first quarter of this year.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c15c07da-2dd4-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html"> The bank suffered $1.8bn in credit card losses in the quarter, compared with a gain of $867m a year ago.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F2856FDD-74E3-4E65-A84D-9A201D9F6E2B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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