DealBook: Wells Fargo Profit Rose 20% in Fourth-Quarter

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co reported a higher-than-expected 23 percent rise in first-

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish pace in the fourth quarter although a big gain in business investment and higher exports of services led the government to push up its previous estimate for growth. Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.4% annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, just below the 0.5% gain forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Total loans on Wells Fargo's books rose $30 billion, up 4%, from a year earlier. But mortgage originations declined 10% compared with the third quarter.Saying housing markets are much improved, Wells Fargo & Co.

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The bank says loan growth from consumers and firms helped it beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter forecasts. Meanwhile, Citigroup posts an 11% drop in net income.Wells Fargo & Co.

Italy's economic recovery continued in the first quarter due to foreign demand but the labour market remained sluggish, slowing household consumption, the Bank of Italy said Friday."The most recent short-term indicators emphasise a continued economic recovery in the first quarter of 2011," while industrial production, mainstay of Italian growth, rose slightly, the bank said in a quarterly statement."Growth continues to be driven by foreign demand," it added.Growth in Italy slowed in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 0.1 percent, taking the full-year to 1.3 percent.

Wells Fargo's second-quarter profit rose 17% as the nation's fourth-largest bank by assets saw mortgage-banking income climb and its provision for credit losses fall.