Bank of America Merrill Lynch beats Wall Street forecasts with record second-quarter earnings

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• Bank of America Merrill Lynch reported second-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat analysts' profit expectations.
• Watch Bank of America Merrill Lynch trade live.

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch posted a record $0.74 in second-quarter earnings per share, outpacing the $0.71 expected by Wall Street analyst surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue and net income rose in the consumer banking and global wealth and investment management divisions, but fell in the global banking and global markets segments.

Here are the key numbers:

• Adjusted net income: $7.3 billion versus the $6.18 billion estimate
• Earnings per share: $0.74 versus the $0.71 estimate
• Revenue: $23.1 billion versus the $23.16 billion estimate
• Expenses: $13.3 billion

"Our commitment to responsible growth resulted in the best quarter and first-half year of earnings in our company's history, said BAML CEO Brian Moynihan in the statement. "In the second quarter, we generated $7.3 billion in earnings and delivered $7.9 billion back to shareholders. Our return on assets was over 120 basis points and our return on equity was well above the firm's cost of capital."

"Our view of the economy reflects the activity by the one-in-two American households we serve, which points to a steadily growing economy," he added. "We see solid consumer activity across the board, with spending by Bank of America consumers up five percent this quarter over the second quarter of last year."