CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bank of America Corp. said Monday its profit fell 41 percent in the second quarter, hurt by a big increase in bad debts tied to falling home prices and a slowing economy.

But it easily beat Wall Street estimates, and shares rose almost 10 percent to $30.18 in premarket trading.

The Charlotte-based bank reported net income of $3.41 billion, or 72 cents per share, on $20.32 billion in revenue, in the April-June period. That compared with net income of $5.76 billion, or $1.28 per share, on $18.37 billion in revenue a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected a profit of 53 cents per share on $19.63 billion in revenue.

The nation's second-largest bank by assets said credit quality continued to weaken during the quarter, particularly in markets that experienced the most significant home price declines.

The bank's credit-loss provisions more than tripled to $5.83 billion from $1.81 billion a year ago amid rising costs in the home-equity, small-business and homebuilder portfolios. The figure surged to $6.01 billion in the first quarter.

Net charge-offs, loans it doesn't think are collectable, jumped to $3.62 billion, up from $1.5 billion a year ago, reflecting housing market deterioration and slowing economic conditions, the company said.

Bank of America completed its $2.5 billion purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. on July 1, a deal it now says will add to its profits this year.

Second-quarter results included $212 million of merger and restructuring costs.

Countrywide, whose results weren't part of Bank of America's figures, posted a second-quarter net loss of $2.33 billion, including just under $4 billion in credit-related losses.

Bank of America has said it plans to cut about 7,500 jobs as it integrates the company into its own operations. The job cuts amount to about 12.5 percent of the combined companies' mortgage, home equity and insurance businesses.

The cuts will take place over the next two years in locations across the country "in instances where the two companies have significant overlap," the bank said earlier this month.

Four of the nation's five biggest banks have now reported better-than-estimated results, sparking a rally in financial shares last week.

Among other lenders, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. reported smaller-than-expected profit declines, while Citigroup Inc. had a milder-than-expected $2.5 billion loss.