STI at 6.99 a share. Like you just in a toe as they do have some bad stuff not fully exposed yet. I've seen them described as wounded but not likley to be zombies or socialized. Bigger local bank that prides themselves in safety, primarily Florida. We'll see. I also averaged in UYG mid afternoon Friday, 1.99ish More nervous about this one though because of non-specific wide exposure and just ETF concerns in general. The next big guy to fall to nationalization could drop this one quick, but good strong solution news could rise it nearly as quick. BAC was the easiest trade though (not investment.) Options expiration Fri, buy mid afternoon sell late afternoon. Good trading.
Options expiration had nothing to do with how the stock traded on Friday. It was all due to government pandering.
If you want to buy banks you shouldn't buy the walking dead like C, BAC etc., you should look to buy well-placed regionals with strong balance sheets. Almost regardless of which bailout plan is pursued, at some point the government will look to auction off as many "toxic" assets as it can to private-sector buyers. Healthy regional banks will get to cherry-pick the best of the worst and stick taxpayers with the real garbage. I opened an "investment" position in BBT last week around 14 bucks, will be looking to add some other regionals to my portfolio this week. Not going to be looking for quick profits on these, but over the next few years I think they have good upside potential.
USB is in serious trouble: they and other Swiss, Italian and German banks lent 1.7 trillion to Eastern Europe and this is the next crisis to hit the globe. This is probably why USB capitulated in banking secrecy to US authories - they have a gun pointed to their head. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/19/AR2009021903284_2.html And, by the way, did you realize the US is actually going to get away with fining them almost a BILLION dollars? http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20090222&id=9627969
Strong banks stand to gain tremendously. But you have to be very careful: there is a new wave of regional bank failures that has just begun. The predictions are that it will be nothing like the S&L crisis, yet it will be sizeable and dangerous for non-insiders... http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/20/news/companies/bank_failures/index.htm Do you really think you have any idea how many toxic assets are on the banks' books? Probably not unless you are on the board of the bank...
I would be very cautious. No one knows how nationalization will go or what it will mean: http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/20/new...s.it.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009022017
I was paid $50/hour to analyze those stocks on consulting work. So if you want to see it, you'd need to pay up. The short straw is that their texas ratios are less than 1, which has high correlations of showing insolvency. Nearly all of those are on that list. But if you're looking for something more specific, you can pm me.