BUMMER

Citigroup Earnings Sink

Bank of America surprises.

Well, that’s disappointing. Citigroup earned just 38 cents a share in the fourth quarter, well below the 97 cents a share that analysts had expected. Bank of America had fourth-quarter earnings of three cents a share, up from the two cents a share that analysts had forecast. Bank of America made $732 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, much less than the $1.99 billion it had made in the same period the year before. Both Citigroup and Bank of America were among the 10 banks that signed last week's $8.5 billion settlement with regulators over foreclosure and mortgage servicing issues in 2009 and 2010, and earnings forecasts for Bank of America plunged after that announcement.