Banking giant Wells Fargo reported a rare decline in its first-quarter earnings from a year ago. According to Wells Fargo officials, this year’s first-quarter net earnings dropped slightly to $5.8 billion, from $5.9 billion a year ago.
The decline is due in large part to the country’s continued low interest rates. Although the number of loans issued by the bank is up by 5 percent, earnings on them are down. Also, bank officials say expenses rose by 6 percent in the first quarter. Even though bank shares declined from 1.04 cents to 1.02 cents, that’s better than the 98 cents a share that analysts had predicted.
On the positive side, Well’s Fargo revenue increased by 3 percent to $21.3 billion for the first quarter versus last year and deposits are up by 9 percent.
