Capital One earnings out: It's alive!

With all the carnage in the financial industry's quarterly reports, Capital One's first quarter results can be described as not as bad as it could have been.

Earnings fell, delinquencies are up and loss loan reserves were tripled from a year ago, but the company also boasts that its U.S. credit card business is "well positioned to navigate near-term challenges and continue its profitability through the economic cycle."

Charge-offs rose in the first quarter of 2008 to 5.85 percent from 4.84 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, and from 3.72 percent in the first quarter of 2007. Delinquencies actually improved in the first quarter of 2008, falling from 4.28 percent to 4.04 percent. But it was well up from the 3.06 percent reported a year ago.

Want to read lots of numbers? OK, here's the whole release.