The Untold Story of U.S. Banks, and Other Market Observations

Brett Steenbarger submits: Regional Variation in Bank Performance - With the help of the Barchart site , I revisited the performance of commercial banks as a function of their geography. Specifically, I looked at the number of banks with stocks that are up on the year and the number of banks that are down 50% or more on the year. Here’s how it shakes out by region:   Southwest: 8 banks up, 2 down big Northeast: 36 banks up, 4 down big Midwest: 19 banks up, 4 down big Southeast: 29 banks up, 14 down big West: 16 banks up, 13 down big As you can see, 27 of the 37 banks that are down 50% or more on the year are located in the southeast (think Florida) and the west (California, Nevada). The story relatively untold in the media is the number of banks that are up year-to-date in their stock market performance -- an astounding feat, given general market and financial sector weakness. Complete Story »