Talk of a merger between Bank of America Corp. and Countrywide Financial Corp. was dampened Wednesday after remarks by bank’s Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis.

Lewis signaled at an investor’s conference that Bank of America is not pursuing a wholesale mortgage business as a strategy to fuel growth, though he declined to comment specifically on Countrywide.

“Let me remind you what we’ve said in the past,” Lewis said. “We have said unequivocally that our strategy is one of organic growth and selling directly to the consumer.”

Shares of Countrywide were down 0.7 percent to $43.22 in midday trading Wednesday. However, they are still are up $2.93 since Jan. 26 when merger speculation started, indicating Wall Street still feels some sort of deal will take place.