2 Big Earnings: Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE:PEP)

Bank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC) earned $340 million during the third quarter, a fall of 95 percent from a year earlier as higher provisioning for bad loans hit profits.

The bank posted a jump in revenues from bond trading while revenues from mortgages rose by a quarter.

On Wednesday the bank posted net earnings of nil per share, for the quarter, compared with 56 cents a share a year earlier.

Analysts' average forecast was a loss of 7 cents per share.

The bank had set aside $1.8 billion in the quarter to cover bad loans, down from $3.4 billion a year earlier.

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The bank seems to be still haunted the acquisitions that the company made during the financial crisis. In September it had agreed to pay $2.4 billion to settle claims which alleged that it had hidden crucial information from shareholders when it had bought Merrill Lynch at the height of the crisis.

The bank also had to buy back mortgages worth $3.8 billion in the third quarter, acceding to demand from investors who had bought mortgage-backed securities.

In order to boost profits the bank had also launched a cost-cutting program with the aim to save $8 billion in annual expenses. The bank said it was on track to attain its savings goal.

Shares of BAC are trading flat at $9.45.

Meanwhile cola company, PepsiCo, Inc.(NYSE:PEP) reported a 5 percent in net income in the third quarter as the company spent more on bolstering its existing brands and developing new products to prepare for the future.

For the period ended Sept. 8, PepsiCo said it earned $1.9 billion, or $1.21 per share. That's compared with $2 billion, or $1.25 per share, a year ago.

Total revenue fell 5 percent to $16.65 billion, partly because of unfavourable currency exchange rates and the refranchising of its business in China and Mexico.

Analysts expected revenue of $16.96 billion.

Shares of PEP fell 0.33% to $70.07.

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U.S. stocks trim early gains to end weak – JPM, BAC, SIRI, NOK, ANR, CNX, Sprint Nextel Corporation, CLWR

The brief optimism, that gripped the market after the Labour Department released data which showed U.S. jobless claims fell to their lowest in four years, faded after it was found that most of the data pertained to one large state.

Shares in Apple slumped almost 2 percent, after a U.S. Appeals court overturned a pre-trial sales ban on its rival Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus.

Sentiments were further dampened when research firms Gartner and IDC put out figures which showed that worldwide sales of PCs had declined the most in more than a decade.

The weakness in the Apple stock trimmed the gains in the benchmark S&P 500 which increased less than 0.1 percent to 1,432.84 at 4 p.m. in New York.

The benchmark gauge fell to the lowest level in a month on Thursday on concerns that the global economy is slowing down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average(INDEXDJX:.DJI) lost 18.58 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,326.39. More than 6 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges today, in line with the three- month average. The S&P 500(INDEXSP:.INX) was up +0.28 (0.02%) at $ 1,432.84 and the NASDAQ Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) fell -2.37 (-0.08%) at 3,049.41.

Among financial Bank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC) and Morgan Stanley(NYSE:MS ) advanced at least 1.4 percent as energy and financial stocks posted the biggest rallies out of 10 groups in the S&P 500.

Network carrier Sprint Nextel Corporation(NYSE:S) jumped 14 percent as it said it’s in talks with Japan’s Softbank Corp. about a potential transaction. Clearwire Corporation(NASDAQ:CLWR) also popped up 70.77%.

Stocks had briefly rallied after the Labour department statistics showed unemployment benefits fell 30,000 to 339,000 for the week ending October 6, the lowest since February 2008.

Economists had forecast 370,000 claims. One state accounted for most of the plunge in claims, a Labour Department spokesman said.

Sirius XM Radio Inc(NASDAQ:SIRI) was down 0.73% after the recent rally. Wednesdaythe company had raised its guidance for a subscriber gain. The company raised gain of 1.8 million in 2012 from its previous gain forecast of 1.6 million.

Finishing the period with a record of 23.4 million it added nearly 446,000 subscribers in the quarter through September.

Nokia Corporation (ADR)(NYSE:NOK) tumbled 2% to $2.55. The company is all set to report its third quarter earnings on October 18th, 2012. Analysts are estimating the company to report more losses with €0.13 per share, from a loss of €0.08 last quarter and a loss of €0.02 last year. Revenue is projected at t €9.03 billion, from €8.98 billion last year and €9.275 billion the prior quarter.

The coal sector was the top performer as investors see a potential for miners to capitalize on cooler temperatures and higher natural gas costs.

Prices for natural gas on the future markets have increased about 80% ever since it hit a 10 year low of $1.91 per 1,000 cubic feet on 19th of April. Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.(NYSE:ANR) soared 17%, Arch Coal Inc(NYSE:ACI) added 15.74% and CONSOL Energy Inc.(NYSE:CNX) climbed 8%.

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Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) is still reeling from its acquisition decisions of 2008

Bank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC) has been doling out billions of dollars as settlements due to various lawsuits, which have resulted from its acquisition of other banks such as Merrill Lynch & Co, as well as other banks such as   Countrywide financial.

Of late, BofA is said to have made a settlement under which they agreed to pay $2.43 Billion as damages, to compensate for the allegations which their shareholders have held against them. The primary complaint is that the Bank of America withheld crucial information about Merrill Lynch during the acquisition of the bank at the time of the very infamous financial crisis of 2008. While its competitors are making huge profits, the Bank of America is still suffering due to the decisions it made during the time of the economical crisis.

After the Lehman Brothers admitted defeat in 2008, the Bank of America swooped in to buy the financial firm. However, they were unsure of what to do towards the later part of the settlement for the acquisition, and they wanted to take the deal off the table, but on account of it being too late, they had to go through with it anyway. The shareholders has voted for the deal after the idea of the acquisition was put before them, and they have recently decided to sure BofA on account of not being told about Merrill Lynch’s  exact losses before the deal was made.

This has become a major issue now, because Merrill Lynch had been neck-deep in losses when the Bank of America took over. The company was at a loss of about $15 Billion, and it had also decided to give its employees bonuses worth about $5.8 billion. The shareholders were not aware of the exact figures when former Chief Executive Ken Lewis had proposed the deal to everyone. Since the acquisitions, the shares of the Bank of America have dropped quite badly, and the bank has only been incurring regular amounts of losses. The court, however, is happy about the settlement, instead of the trial, which was set for the 22^nd of October. Former Chief Executive, Ken Lewis refused to comment upon these developments. 

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The cyber- attack on the major banks: Bank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC), JPMorgan Chase(NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C)

Hackers from Iran have been disrupting the cyber network of three of the biggest banks of America. These attacks, which can be traced back to late 2011, have been occurring with much more regularity of late, and informers and sources confirm that Iranian Hackers are indeed the culprits. The three major banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co.(NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C) and Bank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC)  have been facing network problems and web traffic on account of the cyber campaigns which the hackers have launched, which more often than not, take the form of “denial of service”.

This traffic has been caused by the discordance produced by the campaign which tends to block up the networks as well as the websites belonging to the banks, and sources are almost certain that this has to do with the failure which Iran suffered in 2010 during the crash of its Nuclear program, on account of the Stuxnet Virus. This virus, it is alleged, has been created by the U.S.A and this crash has lead to Iran developing its cyber network drastically.

Senator Joseph Lieberman said that the attack is surely perpetuated by Iran. Lieberman is the Chairman of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and he made a statement, blaming this disruption in the cyber networks of the famous American Banks, on Iran.

People are not sure, however, as to what context the hackers fit into. They may be backed by their government, or they may be individual groups of nationalists, out to seek revenge for the nuclear program failure.

The issue, however, points Iran’s ability to successfully interfere with America’s cyber information systems. It is not sure whether they have stolen information or have bugged the systems, and there is a inquiry being conducted to find out exactly that.

The attack might also have been geared towards the banks on account of Iran not getting Western Economic sanctions.

Tehran, on the other hand, has publicly announced its intention to encourage people to hack into western cyber information and disrupt the cyber security of America. 

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