Citi and BofA Drop Earnings Bombs; All's Silent in Bear's De
Published: Apr 21, 2008
Following suit, Bank of America dropped an earnings bomb today, announcing that its first quarter net income plummeted to $1.21 billion versus the $5.26 billion in profits it booked for the 2007 first quarter. This was even lower than analysts had expected, sending BofA's stock down a couple of percentage points and taking the U.S. stock market down with it, in what was the first decline in the market in five days (Bloomberg provides a good round-up of recent earnings releases and their affects on the market here).
Not to be outdone by its fellow firms that can actually report their own earnings (or, rather, losses), Bear Stearns has stayed atop headlines. This past weekend, The New York Times ran a piece about the firm's rescinded offers (which In the Black has recently reported on), quoting some of the unlucky students now forced to look for another job, as well as some of the lucky ones allowed to hold on to their offers.
Some of the unlucky ones acknowledged that they "probably can't get as good of jobs" now, but don't hold a grudge against toward Bear Stearns or JPMorgan. They also told the Times they felt for older Bear insiders whose wealth was tied up in now-nearly-worthless Bear stock. And one former intern on the receiving end of a rescinded offer recently visited the firm’s New York headquarters last Friday to see old friends, but instead was greeted with silence. "It was a very eerie environment," she said. "No one was working; everyone was gone."