[Ferretlover]

The bank reports a 77% drop in profit and misses Wall Street's estimate. National City is reportedly close to getting a cash injection. Oil continues to soar. Eli Lilly, Merck report higher earnings.
By Charley Blaine and Elizabeth Strott
The subprime mess took its toll on Bank of America (BAC, news, msgs) in the first quarter.
The bank this morning reported a 77% drop in profit for the first quarter, with BofA earning $1.21 billion, or 23 cents per share -- down from the $5.26 billion, or $1.16 per share, the banking giant reported in the first quarter of 2007.Analysts were expecting earnings of 41 cents per share.
Shares of the Dow component fell 27 cents to $38.29 in pre-open trading. And more broadly, stock futures turned lower on BofA's results. …
BoA