Banks post great earnings (not counting losses) as the recovery builds steam

Banks posted great earnings again - as long as you don't count billions of dollars of "One time charges."  The recovery gains steam as long as you don't count all the factors holding the economy back.

Bank of America  Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said the bank would take $2.7 billion in one kind of mortgage-related charge and another $2.5 billion tied to a separate charge.

Citigroup  posted a 25% increase in quarterly profit. But please don't count the $1.3 billion surprise in the form of legal costs, another $305 million charge, more losses at Citi Holdings, and a charge for an increase in the value of its own debt

JPMorgan earned $1.35 a share excluding one-time items such as accounting adjustments and costs from a mortgage settlement. 
JPMorgan set aside $656 million in provisions against future mortgage loan losses, compared with an average estimate by analysts of about $1.5 billion.
“The earnings beat was primarily driven by a low provision charge,” Richard Staite, an analyst at Atlantic Equities LLP in London, said in a telephone interviewThe bank also booked a $567 million pretax loss from a so-called debt-valuation adjustmen.  And JPMorgan took a one-time pretax charge of $700 million in the fourth quarter to cover the costs associated with a $2 billion settlement of mortgage abuse allegations by the Fed in a deal announced Jan. 7.  The bank faces regulatory sanctions and investigations by U.S. and international authorities stemming from the loss over a wrong-way bet on credit derivatives.