NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 20, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the good first-quarter results posted by Wells Fargo&Co. (WFC; AA-/Negative/A-1+) will not affect its ratings on the company. WFC generated $5.4 billion in pretax income, up 4% sequentially and 35% year over year. First-quarter results benefitted from a $1.0 billion reserve release, up from $850 million last quarter. Pretax, preprovision earnings were $7.6 billion in the first quarter compared with $9.3 billion last year due to lower net interest and noninterest income and higher expenses, including higher mortgage servicing costs. New cost-reduction measures could help mitigate cost increases. Credit quality continues to improve and this trend is well established. Net charge-offs declined to
