Banking on Big Banks
The story this week has to be banks! If JPM’s (NYSE: JPM) earnings report today are any indication of future bank earnings, next week will be a pretty exciting week for all financial stocks. Citigroup (NYSE: C) is reporting on Tuesday, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) on Friday and several other big names are reporting next week including Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).
In the near term, bank stocks are going to be the story for a while. The Euro has been rising against the dollar, which bodes well for the US markets. The Portugal, Spain and Italy bond auctions all went well so there has been a little more stability in the European markets. Stability is a very good thing for the markets — if the market gains slow and steady over the next week, it might lure a lot of individual investors and bond investors back into US equities.
With that said, I have listed some portfolio adjustments since 12/31/2010. Here’s the latest update:
ALBCF – Alibaba.com Limited
ARX – Aeroflex Holding Corp
BPOP – Popular, Inc.
BPOPO – Popular, Inc Preferred A
C – Citigroup, Inc.
ETFC – E*Trade Corp
FBCM – FBR Capital Markets Corp
FHN – First Horizon National Corp
FLT – FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (IPO)
HBAN – Huntington Bancshares Inc.
LPLA – LPL Investment Holdings, Inc. (IPO)
SINA – Sina Corp
SKS – Saks, Inc.
SNV – Synovus Financial Corp
YHOO – Yahoo! Inc.
SUBTRACTIONS
LOCM – Local.com
ARUN – Aruba Networks, Inc.
BAC – Bank of America Corp
BAC March $14 Calls (bought and sold)
ADDITIONS
BAC Options – Bank of America March $14 Calls (bought and sold)
BAC Options – Bank of America March $16 Calls
BZH – Beazer Homes USA Inc.
CHINA – CDC Corp
FBC – Flagstar Bancorp Inc.
FBP – First BanCorp
MGM – MGM Resorts International
PHM – PulteGroup Inc.
SLM – SLM Corporation
TSTC – Telestone Technologies
Please do your own due diligence and Happy MLK Day!
