State Street, U.S. Bancorp

State Street Corp. posted a 50% second-quarter earnings increase today while U.S Bancorp reported that profits dropped 18%. State Street’s net income jumped to $548 million, or $1.35 per share, from $366 million, or $1.07 a share, in the year ago-period. Assets under management at the Boston-based money manager slipped 2% to $1.89 trillion at the close of the second quarter compared to a year ago. The firm attributed its earnings increase in large part to a 73% increase in net interest revenue to $685 million, from $397 million in the second quarter of 2007. U.S Bancorp’s second-quarter net income dipped to $950 million, or 53 cents a share, from $1.2 billion, 65 cents a share, a year earlier. The Minneapolis-based bank’s earnings drop was due in part to the $596 million in provisions it set aside for credit losses stemming from the nation’s housing crisis.