Why It Matters
Wells Fargo is one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, and analysts watch its results for signs of economic stress. The bank’s soured loans in its commercial business grew, but its consumer business held fairly steady, with a slight rise in credit-card defaults offset by a drop in losses on auto loans.
The U.S. economy “continues to perform better than many had expected,” said Charles W. Scharf, the bank’s chief executive, but “there will likely be continued economic slowing.” The bank’s shares rose more than 2 percent on Friday, but ended the day 0.3 percent lower.
Commercial real estate, especially loans on office space, are a pain point, and the bank set aside nearly $1 billion more for losses. Its deposits — a measure that has been under scrutiny this year as customers seek higher returns on their savings — dropped slightly from last quarter.
Commercial deposits have stabilized, while on the consumer side, “what’s driving the decline is, largely, people spending their money,” said Michael P. Santomassimo, the bank’s chief financial officer.
Background
Wells Fargo is still operating under growth restrictions imposed in 2018 by the Federal Reserve in response to the bank’s prominent misdeeds, including creating sham customer accounts and mishandling customers car and home loan payments. The bank expects that penalty to remain in place at least through next year.
What’s Next
Like the other big banks, Wells Fargo keeps bracing for a recession — but not seeing one just yet. “Overall, I think things are doing quite well,” Mr. Santomassimo said, thanks in part to “a really strong employment picture.”
More big banks report quarterly earnings next week, including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.