Canceled meetings sparked B of A takeover talk.

Two senior Bank of America officials canceled a series of individual meetings with Wall Street banking analysts, fueling speculation that the nation’s second-largest bank might be involved in merger talks, according to the analysts. However, the bank’s chief financial officer, John Poelker, rejected such speculation. “It’s absolutely not the case,” he said. “There’s certainly no merger activity going on.” Earlier this year, financier Sanford I. Weill and First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles separately expressed interest in taking over control of B of A but were rebuffed.