This is most likely not fantastic news. This is most likely terribly misleading news. As noted, suspending aspects of mark-to-market undoubtedly helped their bottom line. And who knows how much of these "profits" were the result of one-time payments from the government via AIG. There is so much opacity with all banks' financial statements that trusting them seems unwise. Wells Fargo claimed they had record profits in Q1, and just today an analyst estimated that Wells actually needs at least another $50 billion. Who do you trust - people effectively talking up their own books, or independent observers who still see huge problems ahead?