BofA Sharpens the Ax

Bank of America (BAC Quote) chief Kenneth Lewis says the bank will need to take a hard look at its various businesses and consider scaling back some lines after posting a 32% drop in third-quarter earnings.

"We're going to look at every single business," Lewis said during a morning conference call responding to analyst questions. He added that the bank would "see where our strengths are and where they're not and act accordingly"

The Charlotte, N.C., bank saw revenue drop 12% from a year ago in the third quarter to $16.3 billion. Earnings slid to $3.7 billion, or 82 cents a share, from the year-ago $5.42 billion, or $1.18 a share, missing the Thomson Financial analyst consensus estimate by 24 cents. ...