The commodity-trading loss in 2003 was partly down to the Sars respiratory virus that first emerged in Asia in 2002. In BofA’s second-quarter 2003 10Q filing, the company said revenues from commodities trading fell by $83 million in the first half of 2003, mainly due to the adverse impact on jet fuel prices from the Sars outbreak.

The 10Q is an unaudited financial report submitted quarterly to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Sars killed nearly 800 people worldwide in the months