Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, posted its second quarterly loss in less than a year, unable to shake off effects of the economic contraction that drove the company to take two taxpayer bailouts.

The $1 billion third-quarter loss, or 26 cents per diluted share, compared with a profit of $1.18 billion, or 15 cents, a year earlier, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said today in a statement. The loss was more than analysts estimated and the only one posted by the nation’s three biggest lenders. Bank of America dropped 5.6 percent in New York trading.

Continue