Shares of Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank, declined sharply to their lowest level since 1984 on Thursday in New York trading on concern that the bank does not have enough capital even with a $138 billion bailout package.

Bank of America shares fell 17 cents, or 3.62 percent to $4.53 at 11:58 a.m. on the New York Stock Exchange. It declined as much as 20 percent earlier to $3.73, the lowest since October 1984. Shares have been declining for six straight days and it has lost more than two-third of its value this year, according to Bloomberg.

There is this lurking shadow of nationalization which haunts the banks, but particularly Bank of America. It's pretty spooky, said David Dietze, president of Point View Financial Service Inc. in Summit, New Jersey, in an interview late yesterday with Bloomberg.

Bank of America's risk rose after it acquired Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest US home lender, and Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage he said.

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