Wells Fargo Earnings Pressured by Low Interest Rates

Shares of Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) were down in early trading after the nation's fourth-largest bank by assets reported third-quarter earnings that came up short of analyst estimates.

"Our third-quarter results reflect the impact of aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus on the U.S. economy," said CEO Charlie Scharf. "Strong mortgage banking fees, higher equity markets, and declining sequential charge-offs positively impacted our results, while historically low interest rates reduced our net interest income and our expenses continued to remain elevated."

Wells Fargo earned $2 billion, or $0.42 per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30. That was less than half of its $4.6 billion profit in the same period last year, though it was up substantially from the second quarter of this year, when the bank reported a $2.4 billion net loss.

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Source Fool.com