NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 1, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Ally Financial Inc. (formerly GMAC; B/Stable/C) and Residential Capital LLC (B/Stable/C) are not affected by their consolidated fourth-quarter 2010 earnings. Ally reported $79 million in net income and $533 million in pretax core earnings (adjusted for income from discontinued operations and original issue discount), its fourth consecutive quarter of profitability. Bottom-line earnings, while still relatively modest, have improved substantially from 2009, when the company reported significant charge-offs of its legacy mortgage portfolio. Pretax core earnings fell to $533 million from $635 million in the prior quarter on hedging losses, a higher provision, and a drop in net financing revenue. The North American
