The Uptick Rule is wrecking havoc and killing the banks.

http://beanieville.blogspot.com/2008/07/trojan-horse-inside-bulls-lair.h...

Bank of America (BAC) saw an increase in options volume Tuesday, and some of that action was tied to bullish call spreads. Activity surfaced early afternoon (and just before the midday reversal lifted the financials), when a player bought 2500 of the August 22.5 calls and also sold 2500 of the August 27.5 calls, for a net debit of $1.60 per spread.

Traders need to be positioned so that "surprises" are in their favor, which is NOT the case with financial stocks in the US. One day, sure, but it's still way too early.

Quick note discussing timeframes and why it's critical to be specific. Also discuss why I'm not buying US financial stocks. Original article written May 23, now in archives.

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) released its first quarter report on the 1,276 thrifts that it supervises. The report showed the effects of the deteriorating credit cycle on bank balance sheets.

It looks like earnings are really driving this market over the last few weeks as investors are looking for signs of stability. Last week Google helped drive the markets higher. The week before GE helped to drive the market into the ground. Looks like it is Bank of America's turn.

A £50 billion rescue package for banks hit by the credit crunch was unveiled by the Bank of England today.

Cleveland based National City Corp., Ohio's largest bank, is all set to receive between $6 to $7 billion in a capital infusion bailout from an investment group led by the New York based private equity group Corsair Capital LLC.

UBS AG, battered by the biggest writedowns from the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market, reported a 12 billion-franc ($11.9 billion) first-quarter loss and said Chairman Marcel Ospel will step down.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced very quietly the failure of a bank in Missouri called Hume Bank.
As I have said before, this will be the first of many failures over the next year. The Hume Bank was founded in 1909, and survived the Great Depression, but apparently not the “Great Deleveraging.”

UBS has significantly increased its estimate of huge fourth-quarter losses from the American sub-prime mortgage crisis, further increasing the pressure on Marcel Ospel, its chairman.

I want to make the case for starting to put some money to work in Financial stocks. Please don't jump all over me before you read this.