(Yahoo!Finance) - Last year’s earnings were inflated as banks released billions of dollars they had earmarked for soured loans---and capital markets activity was high.
In an already confusing year for banks, second-quarter earnings were even more of a head scratcher and it may have to do with earnings estimates.
Put simply, the banks are in good financial health but their profits were weaker than they were last year—and in many cases, they were far weaker than analyst estimates.
By Carleton English