Bank of America Corp. shares suffered another blow Friday in the wake of a new mortgage lawsuit, fresh scrutiny from regulators and more dismal economic news.

Shares closed at $7.25, down more than 8 percent from the previous day's close on a bad day for financial stocks. That's a steeper slide than the overall markets on the heels of a gloomy jobs report, though the Charlotte-based bank's stock is still up from last week before Warren Buffett's $5 billion investment.

Friday's decline came as the federal agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sued more than a dozen financial institutions, including Bank of America, saying the lenders misrepresented the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the peak of the housing boom.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency filed the suits Friday. Fannie and Freddie lost more than $30 billion, in part as a result of the deals, the agency said.

Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Grayson declined to comment on the suits.

It's hard to predict whether the government's case will hold up in court, because the government would have to establish fraud or negligence, said Tom Hazen, a law professor at UNC Chapel Hill.

"Sometimes a salesperson is going to puff their goods and be optimistic," he said. "It's not enough to show they were overly optimistic."

Critics have contended, too, that Fannie and Freddie were sophisticated investors and knew the risks.

A 2008 letter to Fannie from the FHFA chided executives for their "imprudent decisions" to buy risky loans, saying they did so to increase market share and revenue, according to the government's Financial Crisis Inquiry Report.

"Despite signs in the latter half of 2006 and 2007 of emerging problems, management continued activity in risky programs," it said, adding that Fannie based such purchases on relaxed underwriting standards and models that underestimated the risk.

A similar letter to Freddie criticized its management, too, noting "a series of ill-advised and poorly executed decisions" including continuing to buy subprime securities even after regulators warned officials of the risk.

Some analysts on Friday questioned whether the lawsuit was the right tactic, considering the still-struggling housing market and looming job cuts at Bank of America.

"The United States government has to make a decision," Rochdale Securities banking analyst Dick Bove said. "Does it want to help the (housing) industry, does it want to increase jobs, or is it more interested in attacking a bank to try and raise some money to lower the deficit? ... You can't get the banks to go out and lend money on housing if you keep suing them."

The lawsuits are the latest in a string of mortgage-related troubles at the nation's biggest banks. Private holders of mortgage securities are trying to force banks to buy back billions in mortgage-backed bonds, and state attorneys general are negotiating a deal with the largest mortgage servicers, including Bank of America, over mortgage-lending abuses.

Last month, insurance giant AIG sued Bank of America, seeking $10 billion for mortgage-related losses.

Bank of America took another hit Friday as the Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve pushed the bank to show what steps it could take if conditions there worsen.

Among the options: Issue a separate class of shares tied to the performance of its Merrill Lynch securities unit, which could raise money from investors but run counter to chief executive Brian Moynihan's push for a cohesive company, the Journal reported.

The Fed's call for that documentation was in response to overall economic uncertainty and a downward swing in the bank's stock price earlier this year, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Bank officials declined comment Friday. But analysts said the Fed has a responsibility to collect contingency plans from all major banks and that press reports just fueled fears that the bank was in danger.

"There has been a concerted attack on Bank of America in which one story after another has been released, each being a little more damning than the one before," Bove said.

Still, the nation's biggest bank by assets faces real challenges, said Gary Townsend of Hill-Townsend Capital, which invests in banks. "Clearly, Bank of America under Brian Moynihan is not headed in a healthy direction," he said.

Moynihan, 51, took over as chief executive in January 2010.

"There's no question that Brian has been dealt a difficult hand, but in my view, he lacks a basic skill of a CEO, and that is to be able to explain this company in a way that is appealing to investors," Townsend said.

Bank of America shares fell more than 50 percent for the year before rallying after Buffett's move last week to buy $5 billion in its stock. The stock remains down about 46 percent.

"You have a company that can generate enormous earnings but is saddled with enormous contingent liabilities that are among the known unknowns," Townsend said. "From that standpoint, it makes it a very difficult investment." Staff Writer Rick Rothacker contributed.