NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 17, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said its ratings on Wells Fargo&Co. (WFC; A+/Negative/A-1) are not affected by the company's good fourth-quarter results. WFC generated $6.1 billion in pretax income, essentially unchanged from the previous quarter but up by 17.3% year over year. Fourth-quarter results benefited from a $600 million reserve release, down from $800 million in the third quarter. Pretax, preprovision earnings totaled $8.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $8.0 billion in the third quarter but marginally lower than the $8.2 billion reported last year. Expense reductions are on track, as the company confirmed a target of $11.0 billion in non-interest expense for the fourth quarter of 2012,
