Bank Shares Take a Beating, and It May Not Be Over Yet

Bank Shares Take a Beating, and It May Not Be Over Yet

www.nytimes.com

Michael Scanlon is tempted by bank stocks, truly he is.

They are cheap — selling at near their lows for the year, and trading at well below the valuation of other large companies. But Mr. Scanlon, who helps oversee $7.5 billion for the John Hancock family of mutual funds in Boston and specializes in financial companies, is not about to give in and buy more shares.

“It’s just not going to be a smooth ride,” he said. “You wake up every day and there’s a new headline and a new concern.”

(visit the link for the full news article)

An interesting article on so called Big Bank woes, though you won't see a tear shed by me...

After reading this though I can't help but wonder why an article like this would be printed unless it is designed to influence the markets...

Is this a subtle signal to Washington to increase the debt limit?

And the mention of restricting how much the banks can charge for debit card fees? Is that supposed to make me break out a box of tissues?

Cry me a river Big Banks.. I for one am not buying



www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Seems like in the last week or so, establishment sentiment has swung hard towards preparations for a "double dip" recession, perhaps the worst since the 2008 crash, or worse if you like your doom dark and extra-roasted.

My impression is that after the '08 shakeout, a lot of institutional investors and other big names went into pullback/retrenchment. Then, when the world failed to end in 2009 or 2010, people on Wall Street relaxed a bit. You have to remember that even though the little guy is hurting, a lot of banksters saw record profits and bonuses in the last two years. They tiptoed back into the ugly worlds of debt, risk, and leverage, floating in on a rancid tide of taxpayer bailout money. Now I think people are starting to put two and two together -- not just crank doomer commodity folks such as myself but also institutional players and jut people doing standard technical and fundamental analysis. They are getting nervous, and rightly so. Fleeing the dollar, fleeing risk and leverage, fleeing paper and risk.