As everyone knows, there is many a slip between the cup and lip. The truth of that time-worn wisdom spilled out in Bank of America's first-quarter earnings report Wednesday.

Despite strength in its wealth-management business and continued progress on cutting costs, there were few truly bright spots as the bank continued to grapple with a difficult interest-rate environment. And there were some decidedly dark ones. The bank was battered by $6 billion in litigation expense, leading it to report a net loss of $276 million, while revenue dropped 2.7% from a year earlier.