by Calculated Risk on 5/13/2008 09:35:00 AM

From Bloomberg: Bank of America Sees Higher Losses on Home Equity

[BofA] expects losses to top 2.5 percent of its $118 billion in loans linked to home values ... The bank [last month] projected a loss rate of between 2 percent and 2.5 percent.

And on credit cards:

[BofA] is also seeing a ``recent sharp increase'' in spending on necessities by its credit-card customers. That has curbed retail, travel and entertainment purchases...

Credit cards spending is probably part of the reason retail sales (ex-autos) are holding up a little better than expected. See the WSJ: Weak Autos Push Down Retail Sales

Excluding the gas sector and the auto sector, demand at other retailers last month increased 0.6%.