B of A: Raising Capital and Not Raising Capital (BAC)

Is Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) raising more capital or is it not?  It depends upon which news service you believe.  The FT reported that the company was seeking to raise as much as $10 billion in new capital.  Now we have stories from both Bloomberg and from CNBC that the bank has denied the FT report

Either way, a capital raise at this point right before the stress test results are due would be (or would have been) a total credibility blow to Bank of America management and CEO Ken Lewis.  The company could probably justify a capital raise if it was used to immediately pay back TARP money, but anything outside of that would be a credibility destroyer.

After the developments of last week and the months before this, that is something the bank and that shareholders cannot afford.

JON C. OGG