Shares of Bank of America Corp. BAC, -2.88% slipped 0.2% in premarket trading Tuesday, erasing earlier gains, after the bank reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations but revenue that fell short, as global markets revenue rose less than forecast. Net income fell to $5.5 billion, or 59 cents a share, from $7.0 billion, or 74 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 55 cents. Total revenue declined 10.1% to $20.10 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $20.58 billion, as net interest income fell 15.5% to $10.25 billion to top expectations of $10.24 billion. Consumer banking revenue fell 13.4% to $8.24 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $8.13 billion, while global markets revenue increased 14.1% to $3.91 billion but missed expectations of $4.10 billion. Equities revenue rose 30% to $1.3 billion, while fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) revenue decreased 5% to $1.7 billion. Global banking revenue fell less than forecast and global wealth and investment management revenue declined in line with expectations. “In the fourth quarter, we continued to see signs of a recovery, led by increased consumer spending, stabilizing loan demand by our commercial customers, and strong markets and investing activity,” said Chief Executive Brian Moynihan. Earlier, the bank said it had authorized a stock buyback program of $2.9 billion through March 31. The stock has rallied 39.2% over the past three months through Friday, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF XLF, -1.65% has climbed 25.7% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.72% has gained 10.0%.
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