• Bank of America turned a profit in Q4 as the company reduced assets and increased capital. The company has worked hard to shrink its balance sheet and cut expenses. There are plans for as many as 30,000 job cuts as part of a plan to eliminate $5B in costs annually. From Bloomberg News.
• Greece is nearing a deal with creditors on the country’s debt burden, but the private sector involvement agreement (PSI) does not include several large hedge funds. Bond holders not represented in the negotiations hold about 50 billion euros of paper. That will make it very challenging to settle the issue before the March 20th deadline where 14.5 billion in Greek bonds come due. From the Financial Times.
• Corporate icon Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection. The firm was never able to transform itself after the advent of digital photography destroyed their core business. From Reuters News.
• The Iowa Republican primary results were apparently wrong as state officials go through the certification process. It looks now like former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum took the caucuses by 34 votes. The switch would pile on to a difficult week for Mitt Romney who has battled against political issues relating to his career in private equity and calls for him to release his tax returns. All of this will tighten up the vote in South Carolina. From the Wall Street Journal.