Bank of New York Mellon says its fourth-quarter profit surged as asset and wealth management revenue offset lower interest income. Profit rose to $593 million, or 49 cents per share, from $28 million, or 2 cents per share.

Bank of America Corp. says it lost $5.2 billion during the final three months of 2009 as consumers struggled to make their mortgage and credit card payments. The bank’s results, released Wednesday, followed the pattern of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

For Citigroup Inc., there’s an unexpected silver lining to the steep decline in its stock price: It allows the bank to ignore a small shareholder agitating for changes in how it does business. The situation revolves around John Chevedden, a retired aerospace executive in California who has been a thorn in the side of Citi and other big companies for several years. Last year, a majority of shareholders at toy-maker Mattel and the parent of Alaska Airlines approved his resolution calling on the companies to grant investors the right to call special meetings.

Wells Fargo is seeing early signs of improvement in its lending portfolios as it reports an unexpected fourth-quarter profit. Wells Fargo & Co. says that while loan losses remain elevated, the bank’s confidence is growing that the worst of the cycle is over

Morgan Stanley says it earned $617 million during the last three months of 2009 as its investment banking operations profited from its Smith Barney joint venture. Morgan Stanley said Wednesday it gained 29 cents a share on $6.8 billion in revenue. That was less than analysts’ expectations of 36 cents on $7.8 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

C opper HG-FT slid on Wednesday, knocked by worries about demand after the latest move to tighten monetary policy in top consumer China, but analysts say strong growth data later this week will reinforce bullish sentiment. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading at $7,460 (U.S.) a tonne at 1030 GMT from $7,545 a tonne at the close on Tuesday.

P latinum PL-FT prices relinquished an earlier spike to 17 month highs on Wednesday at $1,654 (U.S.) per ounce, with positive sentiment from the recent launch of new exchange-traded funds overrun by a resurgent dollar. Gold GC-FT prices also gave way to unfavourable currency fundamentals, dropping some 0.8 per cent to fall below $1,130. The U.S