Wachovia says it lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, hurt by a big goodwill charge and an increase in reserves for bad loans as mortgage defaults soar.

The nation's fourth-largest bank by assets says it lost the equivalent of $4.20 per share in the April-June period. In the same timeframe last year, the bank earned $2.34 billion, or $1.22 per share.

Thomson Reuters says analysts had predicted a loss of 78 cents per share on revenue of almost $8.4 billion.

The Charlotte-based bank has cut its quarterly dividend to 5 cents per share from 37.5 cents, which will conserve approximately $700 million of capital per quarter. Late Monday Wachovia (WB) announced plans to leave the wholesale mortgage lending business.

The stock is down sharply premarket.