TD Ameritrade profits up 35%

Thursday was a mixed day for earnings in the financial services sector, with TD Ameritrade posting higher first-quarter profits, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reporting lower earnings, and CIT Group Inc. reporting a loss. At Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., first-quarter profits were up 35% to $187 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, from $141 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, in the first three months of 2007. Assets under management at the company increased 1% to $306 billion. First-quarter profits at Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial dropped 18% to $377 million, or $1.09 a share. The bank holding company attributed the decline to losses in commercial mortgage securities and trading losses. New York-based commercial lender CIT Group reported a first-quarter loss of $257 million, or $1.35 per share, after recording a profit of $201 million, or $1.01 per share, in the year-ago period. CIT, which has been affected by the credit crunch, said in a statement that it has exhausted its $7.3 billion credit lines with banks and will sell $4.6 billion of asset-based loan commitments to shore up liquidity.