A host of one-time items in earnings announcements contributed to a tumble for bank and thrift stocks Thursday.
The American Banker index of 225 bank stocks fell 1.02%, while the thrift index slipped 0.03%.
The broader market indexes also declined -- the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.3% and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.07%.
Bank of New York Co. Inc. booked a $1.4 billion gain in the fourth quarter from a deal in which it traded its branches for JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s trust business. The $1.4 billion gain accounted for 78% of Bank of New York's net income in the quarter.
Bank of New York shares rose 1.7%. Mellon Financial Corp. of Pittsburgh, which has agreed to merge with Bank of New York, also rose 1.7%.
Comerica Inc.'s fourth-quarter results were helped by the sale of its wealth management unit, a tax benefit, and a legal settlement. And analysts said the Detroit company's credit quality did not deteriorate as much as they expected it would.
Comerica gained 2.5%.
BB&T Corp. of Winston-Salem, N.C., said its results were hurt by a pending lawsuit that forced it to set aside $139 million in the quarter. It also recorded $47 million of charges related to a restructuring of its balance sheet.
Its shares gained 1%.
Webster Financial Corp. of Westbury, Conn., said its fourth-quarter earnings included a charge of 10 cents a share related to a balance-sheet restructuring. Without the charge, Webster earned $43.3 million, or 76 cents a share. The average analyst estimate was 71 cents a share.
Webster's stock added 2.7%.
Fifth Third Bancorp of Cincinnati and Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, each repositioned their balance sheets in the quarter, which led to sizable charges. Without the charges, however, the two beat analyst estimates.
Fifth Third's adjusted earnings of 12 cents a share, or $66 million, topped the average of analysts' estimates by 6 cents. Huntington's core earnings of 46 cents a share, or $87.7 million, was a penny better than estimates.
Shares of Fifth Third rose 0.7%. Huntington gained 0.3%.
A company Huntington is buying, Sky Financial Group Inc. of Bowling Green, Ohio, said Thursday that it took about $14 million of charges to prepare for the integration. However, its core earnings of $54.1 million, or 49 cents a share, bested analyst estimates by 2 cents.
Sky climbed 0.3%.
Other gainers included Commerce Bancorp Inc. of Cherry Hill, N.J., 2.8%, and Capital Corp. of the West in Merced, Calif., 2%.
Shares of Corus Bankshares Inc. of Chicago fell 8.5%.
Corus, primarily a construction lender, said in its earnings conference call that it is starting to feel the effects of the slowing residential market. Its profit fell 8% from the third quarter and 24% from a year earlier, to $47.2 million. Earnings per share were 82 cents, a penny short of analyst estimates, according to Thomson Financial.
Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. of Nashville fell 5.5%, and SLM Corp. of Reston, Va., and Cascade Bancorp Inc. of Bend, Ore., each fell 5.3%.
