MSNBC:
Bank of America plans to cut at least is 3,500 jobs and possibly up to 10,000 in a major restructuring of one of the nation's largest banks, the Wall Street Journal reported. In an article posted online late Thursday, the Journal said Bank of America would cut 3,500 of its approximately 300,000 positions by the end of September. The total number of cuts has not been determined but one person familiar with the situation said at least 10,000 jobs are likely to be eliminated. [snip]
...Bank of America shares are down 47 percent this year and 28 percent this month alone, when the market has been hit by a wave of volatility.
Yowza.
Yves Smith has a very good, if rather wonkish explanation for what's causing BofA to falter. But the MSNBC article pretty much hits the nail on the head:
The bank has been working through a slew of problems related to the mortgage mess, many of which it inherited when it bought subprime lending specialist Countrywide Financial in 2008.
This is not going to be a long diary. I had one of those yesterday that I think addresses some of the larger systemic forces at work here. But I've been saying since 2008 that the zombie banks were going to fail short of temporary state control, as it became increasingly necessary to do something about the un-valuable toxic assets on their balance sheets. The biggest bank buying Countrywide may have swept that problem under the carpet for a while for the financial system as a whole, but it is finally starting to rear its ugly head. The stock market isn't likely to help much today either in terms of their investor confidence. I think it's time for the Executive branch to start making fall back plans for placing the nation's largest bank in receivership. Grab your popcorn, this oughta be interesting.
also breaking: Paul Krugman endorses Elizabeth Warren for Senate.
Finally, Someone to Run Against Wall Street
Indeed. Top of the morning to yas!