From Barron's Stocks to Watch:
Down go the bank stocks! And it’s hard not to see why stocks like Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Goldman Sachs (GS) are getting crushed....MORE
It starts with bond yields. The 10-year yield has been in free fall ever since the Federal Reserve took a less hawkish stance than many had predicted heading into the meeting. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note now yields just 2.43%, down from 2.6% on March 13. Higher bond yields mean banks can make more money on the money they lend to the consumers. And banks fell hard after the Fed hiked rates last week.
Then there were financial results released by Jefferies, a unit of Leucadia National (LUK). Its results are often seen as a harbinger for the big U.S. banks, and the results “appear mixed,” according to JMP analyst Devin Ryan. He explains:
Our takeaways from trading results for the larger cap banks and investment banks are mixed. Given the incredibly difficult start to last year, the bar is not particularly meaningful, in our view....
For our younger readers here's the reference in the first line of Barron's post:
"George Foreman knocks out heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and Howard Cosell and Angelo Dundee announce one of the best broadcasts in sports history." January 22, 1973
