Citi, BofA Report Profits

This is fishy: Citigroup and Bank of America have made money. “Bank of America reported a $3.2 billion profit for the second quarter,” according to The New York Times. “Citigroup said it earned $4.3 billion during that period.” But the two whipping boys of the financial crisis are not as sound as those numbers make them seem: “Behind the figures was a sober reality: Those happy results were driven by billions of dollars in one-time gains — in the case of Bank of America, by a profit from the sale of a stake in a big Chinese bank and, in the case of Citigroup, by a bonanza from a new joint venture for its Smith Barney division.” This is more like it: “Without those one-offs, the banks, despite two taxpayer-financed bailout dollars apiece, would have lost billions.”