In the last 18 months, Strategic Short Report readers had the chance to make 432% when Lehman failed, 162% when Allied Capital (NYSE:ALD) came clean, and 220% on PNC Financial (NYSE:PNC)… This month my subscribers are poised to make money on the next bank drop.
First, a historical note…US equities have just come off their best July since 1989. Overall, the market is up over 8% for the year. But if we look backward (after all, hindsight is 20/20), March 1989 also saw a huge run up. It was followed by an even stronger rally in July, during which volume dried up. It appears the same is happening now. What came next in 1989 was a big sell-off in September, followed by an even greater one in October.
While every investment asset class struggled mightily during 2008 – the U.S. stock market alone eradicated $7 trillion in shareholder wealth in its worst year since the Great Depression – managed futures provided investors with a significant bright spot last year.
A total of 10 U.S. banks have now repaid the preference share investments in them made by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), thus demonstrating that the government thinks they are sound. A number of others have yet to pay back that federal infusion. For investors, the question is this: Where do we go from here?
GM CEO Says Bankruptcy “Probable;” Wal-Mart Posts Flat 1Q Profit; BT Group Cuts Jobs, Dividend; PNC to Sell Stock, Raise Capital; GM, Chrysler Closures to Idle 50,000 Workers; Madoff Trustee to Pay Investors $100 Million; Oil Falls on IEA Forecast
Even though the government stress tests have ended and the banks in question have set about raising the required capital, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s believes the nation’s banking crisis has “merely entered a new phase” and might not end before 2013.
The results of the government’s bank stress tests were released yesterday (Thursday), and the U.S. Federal Reserve has directed 10 banks to raise an aggregate $70 billion-plus in capital.
One of the most accurate forecasters of the global economic crisis, Nouriel Roubini, said last week that last September’s spree of bank takeovers deepened the crisis because it made the already-too-big banks even bigger.
Although we’re still in the middle of the worst financial crisis in decades, a few select banks are positioned to make a boatload of profits. And if you pick the right ones, gains of 100% or more are easily within reach.
If you think the U.S. economy is descending into a bottomless pit, hold off. But if you’re reasonably optimistic long-term, these banks are well worth considering for income-oriented investors.