Stocks in the news: Bank of America, General Electric, Citigroup, CIT

The following post rounds up the companies making headlines today:

Bank of America (BAC) reported a big second-quarter profit even as losses from failed loans continued to rise. The bank's earnings after payment of preferred dividends fell to $2.42 billion, or 33 cents per share, compared with a profit of $3.22 billion, or 72 cents per share, in the year ago period, but beat estimates of 28 cents per share. It missed on the top line though.

General Electric Co. (GE) reported that second quarter net income tumbled a less-than-expected 49 percent as its finance unit continued to show distress and big industrial units weakened due to the recession. GE beat earnings forecast but missed on the op line. It posted net income of $2.6 billion, or 24 cents per share, after paying preferred dividends and a revenue decline of 17 percent to $39.1 billion. Analysts had expected GE to earn 23 cents per share on revenue of $42.16 billion. GE shares plunged nearly 5 percent an hour into the trading session.