Bank of America warns' as it posts first-quarter profit of $2.81 billion

There were a several interesting quotes which came from BofA's 1st quarter release yesterday afternoon. I thought I should share some of the more noteworthy comments.

"Credit is bad and we believe credit is going to get worse before it will eventually stabilize and improve." Chief Executive Ken Lewis said during a conference call with analysts, noting that the bank continues to face challenges. "Whether that turn is later this year or in the first half of 2010, I'm not going to hazard a guess."

"Like it or not, capital markets is now a core business for Bank of America, and that has more volatile returns than other businesses."

"Bank of America is no longer exclusively a retail bank and there can be more fluctuations."

This week's economic calendar

Release Date & Time
Economic Indicator
Consensus Estimate
My Analysis

There's nothing to mention until Thursday.

Thurs. April 23, 8:30 a.m. ET
Initial jobless claims for the week ended 4/18
Up 23,000
The out sized drop in last week’s first-time claims for jobless benefits probably reflected the impact of the Good Friday holiday closing of the government’s employment offices. This time around first-time claims are expected to post a rather sharp move to the upside. This week’s data is also being gathered during the survey period for the April non farm payroll report. Becuase of this, I expect a notable increase in the weekly initial jobless claims number which should support fractionally lower mortgage/fixed income interest rates.

Thurs. April 23, 10:00 a.m. ET
Mar. Existing Home Sales
Down 0.6%
The pace of the decline for existing home sales continues to soften – suggesting to some analysts that the housing sector may be within months of reaching a meaningful bottom. Affordability is at its best levels in more than 17-years and 30-year mortgage rates are within a whisper of their record lows. Look for this report to have little influence on the mortgage market until/unless the pace of sales shows positive gains.


Thurs. April 23, first half of the trading day
As usualy, expect the Fed will be an active participant in the credit market. Most of the purchase will be centered around treasuries with maturities ranging from 3- to 10-years. The continued Fed presence in the credit market tends to be supportive of steady to fractionally lower mortgage rates.

Thurs. April 23, 1:00 a.m. ET
Treasury auctions
5-year inflation-indexed securities
The relative short term together with the “adjustable” feature of this security will likely make it very appealing to a broad spectrum of investors. This event will not influence the direction of rates.


Fri. April 24, 8:30 a.m. ET
Mar. Durable Goods Orders
Ex-transportation
-1.5% vs. last +3.5%
-1.2% vs. last +3.7%
These figures will likely draw little more than a passing glance from market participants.

Fri. April 24, 8:30 a.m. ET
Mar. New Home Sales
+0.8%
Big price concessions from builders and historically low mortgage interest rates likely combined to nudge the pace of new home sales fractionally higher. That’s nice – but mortgage investors will likely give this data little more than a passing glance.


Mon. April. 27