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NEW YORK, July 18 (UPI) -- Bank of America's second-quarter report, released Monday, exceeded expectations through an improvement in bond trading. The bank reported a $4.23 billion profit, or 36 cents per share, compared to 45.43 billion or 45 cents per share in the same period of 2015. Analysts expected 33 cents per share, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
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The bank, the United States' second largest by assets, remained slowed by low interest rates, but trading revenue improved 12 percent over the second quarter of last year. Bond, currency and commodity trading revenue rose 22 percent, although stock trading revenue fell 7.6 percent. Citibank and JP Morgan Chase reported similar swings last week.
The results marked a period of relative calm for the bank. In June, it passed a Federal Reserve stress test, in which banks with assets of more than $50 billion are required to submit complex plans outlining how they would perform in the face of a severe economic downturn, without drama for the first time since 2013. Still, stock shares in the bank have fallen 19 percent since the start of 2016, a greater decline than that of any major bank and worse than the 8 percent fall of the KBW Nasdaq index of bank stocks.
A stated goal of Bank of America CEO Bryan Moynihan has been cost cutting; the report said expenses were cut 3.4 percent compared to last year, largely because the bank spent less on servicing troubled mortgages.
Bank of America shareholders were scheduled to hear an explanation of the report Monday in a conference call.
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