NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 20, 2010—Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that U.S. Bancorp's (USB; A+/Stable/A-1) first-quarter earnings will not affect the ratings. Overall, USB lived up to expectations of a slow but steady recovery. Asset quality continued to deteriorate at an ever-slower pace as commercial nonperformers declined and residential mortgages showed improvement in charge-offs. Deterioration in commercial real estate (CRE) was measured, in our opinion, because of the more conservative mix of CRE loans. The net addition to reserves declined, so that a slightly lower provision from the prior quarter helped boost bottom-line earnings by 11%. Still, we do not expect a peak in charge-offs for a couple of quarters, but reserve additions may not be
