Large Bank ETFs Eye Earnings

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Large financial institutions like JP Morgan Chase(JPM Quote) and Goldman Sachs(GS Quote) have bounced back harder than many of their regional banking peers, a trend reflected in their respective ETFs.

While large-cap oriented funds iShares Dow Jones US Financial Services(IYG Quote) and SPDR KBW Capital Markets(KCE Quote)have risen 23% and 49% year to date, regional peers like iShares Dow Jones US Regional Banks (IAT) and SPDR KBW Regional Banking KRE have fallen 10% and 24% respectively.

As a broad sector, financials have recovered substantially from March lows, but certain sub-sectors continue to lag others as investors recover from widespread market downturn.

Earnings announcements from big banks like JP Morgan, Bank of America(symbol Quote), Wells Fargo(WFC Quote), Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup(C Quote) could help to further separate the big boys from the rest of the pack.

J.P Morgan's Wednesday earnings announcement underscored the improvement for large financial institutions. Despite problems with delinquencies in its consumer and credit-card operations, it reported strong profits in its earnings call. Pricey deposits from Washington Mutual and the recovery of leveraged loans and mortgage securities helped to fuel the $3.6 billion in posted profit.

The banking sector, particularly small banks, still have a long road to recovery.

During the Q&A portion of the earnings call, a representative from JPM fielded a call from analyst Meredith Whitney about the firm's exposure to commercial real estate. The representative noted: "Commercial real estate and the values have already dropped, and it's going to be recognized over the next couple of years. We believe you are seeing several hundred additional smaller regional based banks go -- you know, not make it."