Excellent franchise with strong market shares in the Midwest and west Diverse revenue sources across fee- and interest-income businesses Simplified business model focused on traditional banking Better underwriting than most peers during the recent financial crisis Reliant solely on U.S. economy, which is recovering from the recession slowly Elevated credit costs compared with historical levels The stable outlook reflects Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' belief that U.S. Bancorp (USB) should be able to maintain its "very strong" business position and "strong" risk position (as our criteria define those terms), despite current weak operating conditions. We expect USB's asset quality to improve modestly and its profit-generation to remain better than peers'. Although Dodd-Frank legislation will likely hurt earnings, we expect the
