NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 22, 2014--U.S. Bancorp's (USB; A+/Stable/A-1) revenue declined 4.4% (year over year) in the fourth quarter to $4.9 billion, largely because of lower mortgage banking revenue. Still, USB was able to deliver above-peer results, including return on assets of 1.62%. We believe the bank is well positioned to deliver earnings growth over the coming years because of continued market share gains. Notably, average loans rose 5.7%, reflecting an increase in both residential and commercial loans. Commitments were also higher, which over time should spur growth. Based on these results, our ratings on USB remain unchanged. We anticipate pretax earnings will grow modestly in 2014. We expect low- to mid-single-digit loan growth, a slight decline of
