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Bank of America CEO says US economy 'definitely slowing'
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 13 12 07The chief executive of Bank of America, Ken Lewis, said Wednesday that the world's biggest economy is "definitely slowing," according to a transcript of a speech Lewis delivered at a financial conference.
Lewis, who manages the largest US banking company by market worth, also said Bank of America anticipates setting aside 3.3 billion dollars to cover fourth quarter losses and writeoffs mainly tied to an ongoing housing slump.
"The economy is definitely slowing. We expect weak fourth and first quarters, but at this point we are not forecasting a recession," Lewis said, according to the transcript.
The update on likely losses and writeoffs provided by Lewis comes after Bank of America's chief financial officer, Joe Price, said in mid-November that such losses and write-downs would likely amount to three billion dollars.
"While we do not make a practice of forecasting quarterly earnings, I think you certainly can assume results will again be quite disappointing," Lewis said.
"In the past month, the markets have turned down again and will probably remain challenging into next year," he said, referring to a sharp downturn in US financial markets in August.
Markets dived in August as major banks revealed increased losses from their mortgage investments. Such investments have soured as the US housing downturn has worsened and home foreclosures have spiked.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America's third quarter earnings fell 32 percent from 5.4 billion dollars a year earlier due to mortgage-related losses and dislocations in the US credit markets.
The bank's CEO was speaking at a conference in New York organized by Goldman Sachs.
Story from AFP 12 1516 GMT 12 07
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