Top Takes From RealMoney

The RealMoney contributors are in the business of trading and investing all day on the basis of ongoing news flow. Below, we offer the top five ideas that RealMoney contributors posted today and how they played those ideas.

Morning Prep

By Ken Wolff
8:43 a.m. EDT

The PowerShares QQQ(QQQQ Quote)QQQQ is trading higher this morning from a closing price of $39.76 to $39.91 at the time of this writing. ... Yesterday's trading was a continuation of the "pullback is over, let's buy" crowd. ... I would expect another day of a dime selling from the open and early buying, with the QQQQ moving up to around $40.50. ... We have existing-home sales at 10 a.m., which can stir up the trading waters....

No positions

---

China

By Marc Chandler
9:43 a.m. EDT

China appears to be raising the capital requirements for its banks. Apparently, the Banking Regulatory Commission sent a draft of some rule changes on Aug. 19, and the banks have until Aug. 25 to comment.

Essentially, what the new rules do is force the banks to exclude from their supplemental capital subordinated and hybrid debt sold by other Chinese banks. If implemented, the rule is seen forcing banks to rein in lending, something many apparently have already begun doing, and/or raise more equity through share sales to lift ratios back to the mandated 12% level. Up until now, it seemed that Chinese officials were relying more on moral suasion and informal channels rather than new formal rules per se.

---

AGO Housekeeping

By Bob Haefele
10:24 a.m. EDT

Up over 50% since I mentioned it here in June, I am selling a slice of my Assured Guaranty(AGO Quote) as part of my portfolio discipline. I still love the name as they should start to show strong revenue growth next quarter from their recent acquisition of FSA.

Positions: Long AGO stock and bonds