- 2012 surprised Brown in how low interest rates went and how long they have stayed there.
- This is squeezing net interest margins for banks.
- He expected the economy to get better and have the Fed let off the gas on quantitative easing.
- For 2013 he thinks the biggest surprise will be the continued improvement in Bank of America (BAC, Financial) profitability.
- The BAC improvements will come from expense reduction and reduced funding cost (replacing long-term debt with short-term deposits).
- Thinks this is 1988 and 1989 all over again when BAC doubled in '88 and went up 50% again in '89.
