Big U.S. banks report mixed earnings

Four of the major U.S. financial institutions - with a combined market capitalization of $352 billion - reported mixed fourth quarter earnings today.

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) beat estimates while Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) fell below expectations.

Morgan Stanley, BNY Mellon, and Wells Fargo reported gains while Bank of America reported a loss.

Bank of America reported a loss of $0.60 per share, missing analysts' expectations of a loss of $0.52 per share. Morgan Stanley reported earnings of $0.14 per share, missing expectations of $0.42. Wells Fargo reported $0.08 per share, beating estimates of a $0.01 loss. Also, BNY Mellon reported earnings of $0.60 per share, beating expectations $0.51.

Earnings at each of the four major U.S. banks reporting today were weighed down by repayments to the federal government's financial industry bailout known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Bank of America paid $4 billion in the quarter.

In late morning trading, Bank of America was trading down 0.18 percent, Wells Fargo down 0.99 percent, BNY Mellon up 1.56 percent, and Morgan Stanley down 1.19 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.87 percent and the Dow Jones U.S. Financials Index is down 1.09 percent.

Below are links to earnings news releases for each company:

Bank of America

Wells Fargo

Bank of New York Mellon

Morgan Stanley