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Bank Of America

January 20, 2012 by · Comments Off on Bank Of America 

Bank Of America, Even as the company reported a $2 billion profit in the fourth quarter Thursday, what was once the country’s largest bank continued to shrink, shedding tens of billions of dollars from its balance sheet and laying off nearly 7,000 employees.

The results mark the clearest evidence so far of CEO Brian Moynihan’s view that bigger isn’t better, and Wall Street seemed to agree — Bank of America shares rose more than 2 percent to just below $7 a share, the highest level since October. The boost was a rare break for long-suffering Bank of America investors, who watched its shares dive by more than 50 percent last year.

While the profit was a turnaround from the fourth quarter of 2010, when Bank of America lost $1.2 billion, it was largely a result of one-time gains. They included $2.9 billion from the sale of a stake in China Construction Bank and $1.2 billion on the exchange of preferred stock for common stock.

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