First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., announced Wednesday that it lost $5.4 million, or 11 cents per diluted share, in the fourth quarter.
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A year earlier First Midwest earned $31.5 million.
The $8.1 billion-asset company attributed the loss to a $50 million noncash charge related to its asset-backed collateralized debt securities portfolio. The portfolio is made up of six discrete issues, four of which have an average subprime exposure of 43%, First Midwest said. For the full year, its earnings dropped 31%, to $80.2 million. First Midwest's shares climbed 7.7% Wednesday in a broad market rally.
