Bank of America earnings fall 9 percent

NEW YORK - Bank of America (BAC), the consumer banking giant, reported a 9 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings Thursday, missing analysts' estimates on both profit and revenue.

The bank earned $3.05 billion, or 25 cents a share, for the three-month period ending in December. That compares with a profit of $3.44 billion, or 29 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

Total revenue fell 12.6 percent to $18.96 billion.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected Bank of America to earn 31 cents a share on revenue of $21.08 billion.

Shares of Bank of America fell 2 percent in premarket trading to $16.04. The bank is down 10 percent so far this year.