July 18, 2009

The latest quarterly results from the ailing banking sector show major lenders appear to be healing, but with some segments of the industry still weak amid a recession-mired economy.On Friday, Bank of America and Citigroup reported healthy profits for the second quarter, although Citi's results were skewed by a one-time gain that offset hefty losses.

Earlier in the week, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs beat market expectations with strong results, mainly from the institutional, or Wall Street side, of operations, with consumer segments still struggling.Nonetheless, the sector seen as critical to an economic recovery showed marked improvement on the heels of a massive effort by the US government to steady the financial system that included capital injections of tens of billions of dollars.