[R]11:00AM New York – Stocks in early trading decline in New York after weaker than expected earnings.[/R]

In the early trading in New York stocks fell o rising oil, weak dollar, and weaker than expected earnings from Bank of America and Pfizer.

The Labor Department reported that the jobless claims rose 28,000 to 337,000 at the end of the last week. The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.3% to 137.9 in September after a revised 0.8% decline in August.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 6 were in California (+6,317), Georgia (+3,255), Kentucky (+3,159), New York (+3,094), and Illinois (+2,865), while the largest decreases were in Louisiana (-468), North Carolina (-436), Maryland (-416), Texas (-223), and Kansas (-154).

Dollar fell to a record low against euro. In the early morning trading dollar fell to $1.43002 before recovering to $1.427008. Investors are worried that slowing economy may force the Fed to lower interest rates hurting the dollar. In Tokyo, former Finance Minister Eisuke Sakakibara said that dollar could face severe decline in the year 2008 if the U.S. economic growth slows to 1%. IMF lowered the U.S. economic growth projection to 1.9% from 2.8% and worried that housing market may act as a drag on the economy.

Bank of America reported earnings decline of 32% on 12% decline in revenue in the third quarter.

Pfizer (PFE: chart) reported third quarter earnings of $761 million or 11 cents per share compared to $3.36 billion or 46 cents per share a year ago. The results included pre-tax charge of $2.8 billion related to insulin inhaling product Exubera. Revenue in the quarter fell 2% to $11.99 billion and pharmaceuticals sales declined 4%.

Nokia reported third quarter profit of 1.56 billion euros compared to 845 million euros a year ago on revenue rise of 28% to 12.9 billion euros. Shipments of handsets increased 26% to 111.7 million and averages selling price fell to 82 euros from 90 euros.

After the market close yesterday, eBay (EBAY: chart) reported third quarter sales increase of 30% but earnings declined on the account of $1.39 billion charge related to Skype. Operating earnings in the quarter increase to 41 cents but net income fell to a loss of 69 cents. The company reported net loss of $938 million. PayPal net revenue jumped 34% to $470 million and at Skype increased 96% to $98 million. EBay marketplace revenue increased 26% to $1.32 billion but listing declined 5% to 556 million.

Ebay fell 6% or $2.44 to $38.16 at 11:00 AM in New York.

[R]10:00AM New York – Bank of America is the latest bank to report losses from mortgage lending and trading activities.[/R]

Bank of America Corporation today reported third quarter net income declined 32 percent to $3.70 billion from $5.42 billion a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share fell 31 percent to $0.82 from $1.18. Several analysts had expected earnings between $1.01 and $1.03 per share on revenue of $17.95 billion. Revenue and earnings decline was sharper than expected by analyst. The stock in the early trading fell 3.5%.

Investment banking fees declined $1.33 billion and provision for loan losses including losses related to home equity and residential mortgage loans were $865 million.

The diversified mix of the bank’s business helped bank to stay profitable in the quarter. Retail deposits increased 4% to $16.52 billion, first mortgage origination rose 27%, and loans and leases in business lending division increased 9% to $240 million. Total asset under management increased to $710 billion after the purchase of U.S. Trust.

Revenue net of interest expense on a fully taxable-equivalent basis declined 12 percent to $16.30 billion from $18.49 billion in the third quarter 2006.

Noninterest income fell 24 percent to $7.31 billion from $9.60 billion in the third quarter of 2006. The decrease was mainly due to trading account losses of $1.46 billion and the absence of a gain on the sale of the company''s operations in Brazil recognized in the third quarter of last year. The decrease was partially offset by the absence of a $469 million loss on the sale of debt securities a year earlier and improvements in investment and brokerage services and equity investment income.

Provision for credit losses was $2.03 billion, up from $1.81 billion in the second quarter of 2007, and $1.17 billion in the third quarter of 2006. Net charge-offs were $1.57 billion, or 0.80 percent of total average loans and leases. This compared with $1.50 billion, or 0.81 percent, in the second quarter of 2007 and $1.28 billion, or 0.75 percent, in the third quarter of 2006.

Total shareholders'' equity was $138.51 billion at September 30. Period-end assets were $1.6 trillion. The Tier 1 capital ratio was 8.22 percent, down from 8.52 percent at June 30, 2007 and 8.48 percent a year ago due to the impact of the U.S. Trust acquisition.

During the quarter, Bank of America paid a cash dividend of $0.64 per share. The company also issued 9.5 million common shares related to employee stock options and ownership plans and repurchased 9.6 million common shares. Period-ending common shares issued and outstanding were 4.44 billion for the third quarter of 2007, compared with 4.44 billion for the second quarter of 2007 and 4.50 billion for the third quarter of 2006.

The on-going U.S. housing market correction has hobbled some of the largest banks and brokerage companies in the world. Most banks had denied that they had exposure to subprime lending. In the last one month total of $25 billion losses related to mortgage securities have been declared by banks in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.