Bank of America reported on Wednesday that third-quarter net income rose to $2.5 billion, or 20 cents a share, from $340 million in the period a year earlier, when the bank was hit by litigation expenses and other charges. Revenue, excluding a financial charge that investors often ignore, fell slightly, to $22.2 billion, from $22.5 billion in the period a year earlier. At the same time, the bank’s mortgage operations faltered, underscoring that home loans remain a challenging business for the industry. Bank of America is holding a conference call to discuss the results at 8:30 a.m.
TWITTER REPORTS RISE IN REVENUE Â |Â Twitter, preparing for an initial public offering, disclosed new revenue information on Tuesday that might help it persuade investors to buy its shares. The company said revenue rose in the third quarter to $169 million, more than double the level a year earlier, and said its monthly users grew to 232 million, about 76 percent of them using a mobile device, Vindu Goel and Michael J. de la Merced report in DealBook. Still, the company continues to lose money.
Twitter plans to price its initial public offering the evening of Nov. 14 and begin trading the next day, people briefed on the matter said. The company is expected to begin meeting with institutional investors as soon as Oct. 25. In its Tuesday filing, Twitter also said it had chosen to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
JPMORGAN EXPECTED TO ADMIT FAULT IN TRADING LOSS Â |Â JPMorgan Chase has reached a preliminary agreement to admit that its $6 billion trading blowup in London last year represented reckless behavior, Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg report in The New York Times.
The bank could settle with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as soon as this week, people briefed on the negotiations said. In addition to admitting some wrongdoing, the bank is expected to pay about $100 million to resolve the case, which has come to be known as the London Whale episode. The current talks come a month after JPMorgan acknowledged that “severe breakdowns†had led to the losses. But the pact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission zeros in on the bank’s actual trading practices.
ON THE AGENDA  | American Express, eBay and IBM report earnings this evening. The Federal Reserve’s beige book on the economy is released at 2 p.m. Warren E. Buffett is on CNBC starting at 6 a.m. Laurence D. Fink, the head of BlackRock, is on CNBC at 3:10 p.m.
POLITICAL CRISIS STRAINS VITAL DEBT MARKET  | With Washington struggling to reach a fiscal deal, the vast and shadowy machinery of the financial system that seized up in the financial crisis is once again becoming a concern, DealBook’s Peter Eavis writes. Crucial elements of the system remain vulnerable, the biggest of which is the market where Wall Street firms borrow billions of dollars of short-term debt each day to run their businesses. That debt market is heavily dependent on money market funds, a major source of weakness in 2008, Mr. Eavis writes.
Adding to the concerns on Tuesday, Fitch Ratings said the triple-A credit rating of the United States was at risk of a downgrade. Even if the budget conflict is resolved, the ratings company said, it could push up the cost of borrowing across the economy and harm long-term growth.
With the government on the brink of a possible default, a House Republican effort to end the shutdown and extend the Treasury’s borrowing authority collapsed on Tuesday night, Jonathan Weisman reports in The New York Times. After House Republican leadership failed to find enough support for its latest proposal to end the fiscal crisis, the Senate’s Democratic and Republican leaders immediately restarted negotiations to find a bipartisan deal.
Wall Street spent the afternoon once again ramping up its preparations for a default, Nathaniel Popper reports in DealBook. Though investors had scaled back their bets that the United States would miss payments on its debt in the near future, the optimism quickly dried up on Tuesday. China has become shrill in its criticism of the situation, arguing that the answer to a potential government default is to begin creating a “de-Americanized world,†Mark Landler reports in The Times. In London, many professional investors view the possibility of a default as a sort of financial nuclear winter and have little inkling of what is on the other side, Dnny Hakim reports in The Times.
Advance Auto Parts to Buy Rival for $2 Billion  | The deal will make Advance a new giant of the car-parts segment, with annual sales of more than $9.2 billion. DealBook »
Berkshire Buys 2 Units From Industrial Manufacturing Firm  | Though a small deal for Berkshire Hathaway, the acquisition of the units of IMI for $1.1 billion in cash signals Warren E. Buffett’s continuing appetite for deal-making this year. DealBook »
Batista in Deal to Give Up Control of Port  | Eike Batista, the fallen business titan in Brazil, has reached a nearly $1 billion deal “to stave off the collapse of his business empire, ceding control of his prized iron ore port to the Dutch trading house Trafigura and an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund,†The Financial Times reports. FINANCIAL TIMES
Escalating War of Words in Tire Deal  | Apollo Tyres indicated on Tuesday that it still wanted to acquire Cooper Tire and Rubber, but not necessarily at the agreed-on $2.5 billion price. DealBook »
Negative Initial Market Reaction to Changes at Top of Burberry  | One reason Burberry’s shares fell on Tuesday is that investors hate surprises. But the bigger issue is that the company said its creative director would also be chief executive, a dual role that might be an uncomfortable stretch, Quentin Webb of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
How Onavo Could Help Facebook  | By acquiring the Israeli analytics company Onavo, Facebook is gaining access to data that could help it see trends in apps that are gaining traction, AllThingsD writes. ALLTHINGSD
Bonuses for Bond Traders May Disappoint  | Reuters writes: “With anemic bond trading revenue over the past few months hurting Wall Street profits, pay cuts and even layoffs are back on the table just when the future had started looking up for traders.†REUTERS
Computers Gain Bigger Role in Corporate Bond Trading  | Bloomberg News reports that a record share of United States corporate bond trading “has moved to computers as buyers who traditionally transacted over the phone seek faster ways to buy and sell in a market where Wall Street’s human traders are retreating.†BLOOMBERG NEWS
Citigroup Results Hurt by Lower Fixed-Income Trading  | Citigroup, the nation’s third-largest bank by assets, said its profit rose to $3.23 billion, or $1 a share, from the period a year earlier, but its results were hurt by weakness in its fixed-income unit. DealBook »
Citigroup’s Meager Returns  | Citigroup’s new chief executive, Michael L. Corbat, ends his first year with third-quarter earnings below estimates, and breaks that the bank got elsewhere make its overall performance look worse, Antony Currie of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
Barclays’ Compliance Chief to Take Leave of Absence  | Hector W. Sants, a former head of Britain’s financial regulator, is suffering from exhaustion and stress. DealBook »
Cerberus Said to Review BlackBerry’s Financials  | Cerberus Capital Management signed a nondisclosure agreement giving it access to financial information that the private equity firm could use to mount a bid for the struggling smartphone maker, Bloomberg News reports, citing an unidentified person with knowledge of the situation. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Some Creditors of Energy Future Holdings Abandon Talks  | Reuters reports: “Some creditors of Energy Future Holdings have stopped negotiating for now with the Texas power company as it looks to restructure its $40 billion of debt, adding another obstacle as debt holders hope to find a structure for a possible bankruptcy before the end of the month.†REUTERS
Greenlight Adds to Bet Against Green Mountain Coffee  | Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters were down on Tuesday after David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital said in a letter to investors that it had added to its short-selling bet against the company. REUTERS
Through Yahoo Earnings, a Window Into Alibaba’s Performance  | According to a Yahoo earnings presentation, its Chinese partner reported $707 million in profit attributable to ordinary shareholders, up 159 percent from the same time a year ago. DealBook »
Chinese Banks Plan to Go Public in Hong Kong  | The Financial Times writes: “Chinese banks are poised for a return to Hong Kong’s market for new listings after a protracted hiatus, with three midsized lenders planning to raise money in the coming weeks.†FINANCIAL TIMES
Path, a Social Network, Changes Tack  | Path, the social network run by David Morin, an early Facebook employee, said it was cutting 13 employees, or about a fifth of its staff. “We’re realigning the company to support continued innovation,†a representative of the company told AllThingsD. ALLTHINGSD
A Push to End Securities Fraud Lawsuits Gains Momentum  | Litigation against companies for disclosure violations of the federal securities laws has been a big business, and opponents are fighting to end it, Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column. Deal Professor »
Lawyer Leaves Williams & Connolly to Start Sports Firm  | James L. Tanner Jr., whose N.B.A. clients include Tim Duncan and Jeremy Lin, has formed his own sports management company, Tandem Sports and Entertainment. DealBook »
Real Estate Heats Up in Indonesia  | In Jakarta, “rents per square foot for downtown grade B commercial real estate have roughly doubled in local currency terms over the last three years and nearly tripled for scarce grade A space,†The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Goldman Must Hand Over Gender Bias Complaints in Lawsuit  | A judge ruled that Goldman Sachs “must turn over internal gender-bias complaints by female workers to lawyers representing women in a lawsuit alleging the firm discriminated against them in pay and promotions,†Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
